Sample records for maternal heart sound

Background The preferential response to mother’s voice in the fetus and term newborn is well documented. However, the response of preterm neonates is not well understood and more difficult to interpret due to the intensive clinical care and range of medical complications. Aim This study examined the physiological response to maternalsounds and its sustainability in the first month of life in infants born very pretermaturely. Methods Heart rate changes were monitored in 20 hospitalized preterm infants born between 25 and 32 weeks of gestation during 30-minute exposure vs. non-exposure periods of recorded maternalsounds played inside the Neonatal incubator. A total of 13,680 min of HR data was sampled throughout the first month of life during gavage feeds Heart rate with and without exposure to maternalsounds. Results During exposure periods, infants had significantly lower heart rate compared to matched periods of care Auditory without exposure on the same day (p < .0001). This effect was observed in all infants, across the first month of life, irrespective of day of life, gestational age at birth, birth weight, age at testing, Apgar score, caffeine therapy, and requirement for respiratory support. No adverse effects were observed. Conclusion Preterm newborns responded to maternalsounds with decreased heart rate throughout the first month of life. It is possible that maternalsounds improve autonomic stability and provide a more relaxing environment for this population of newborns. Further studies are needed to determine the therapeutic implications of maternalsound exposure for optimizing care practices and developmental outcomes. PMID:25194837

The first of this two-part article on heartsounds was in the Spring 2013 issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing (Reimer-Kent, 2013). Part 1 emphasized the importance of all nurses having an understanding of heartsounds and being proficient in cardiac auscultation. The article also focused on an overview of the fundamentals of cardiac auscultation and basic heartsounds. This article provides an overview of the anatomy and pathophysiology related to valvular heart disease and describes the array of heartsounds associated with stenotic or regurgitant aortic and mitral valve conditions.

All nurses should have an understanding of heartsounds and be proficient in cardiac auscultation. Unfortunately, this skill is not part of many nursing school curricula, nor is it necessarily a required skillfor employment. Yet, being able to listen and accurately describe heartsounds has tangible benefits to the patient, as it is an integral part of a complete cardiac assessment. In this two-part article, I will review the fundamentals of cardiac auscultation, how cardiac anatomy and physiology relate to heartsounds, and describe the various heartsounds. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned nurse, it is never too early or too late to add this important diagnostic skill to your assessment tool kit.

Breath and cardiac sounds are two major bio sound signals. In this, heartsounds are produced by movement of some body parts such as heart valve, leaflets and the blood flow through the vessels, whereas lung sounds generates due to the air in and out flow through airways during breathing cycle. These two signals are recorded from chest region. These two signals have very high clinical importance for the patient who is critically ill. The lung functions and the cardiac cycles are continuously monitored for such patients with the help of the bio sound signal captured using suitable sensing mechanism or with auscultation techniques. But these two signals mostly superimpose with each other, so the separation of these heartsound signals (HSS) and the lung sound signals (LSS) is of great research interest. There are so many different techniques proposed for this purpose. In this paper, a study is carried out on different algorithms used for the separation of HSS from LSS, and also the results of major four separation algorithms are compared.

In the field of heartsound signal denoising, the wavelet transform has become one of the most effective measures. The selective wavelet basis is based on the well-known orthogonal db series or biorthogonal bior series wavelet. In this paper we present a self-construct wavelet basis which is suitable for the heartsound denoising and analyze its constructor method and features in detail according to the characteristics of heartsound and evaluation criterion of signal denoising. The experimental results show that the heartsound wavelet can effectively filter out the noise of the heartsound signals, reserve the main characteristics of the signal. Compared with the traditional wavelets, it has a higher signal-to-noise ratio, lower mean square error and better denoising effect.

Cardiac auscultation is a fundamental clinical tool but first heartsound origins and significance remain controversial. Previous clinical studies have implicated resonant vibrations of both the myocardium and the valves. Accordingly, the goals of this thesis were threefold, (1) to characterize the frequency dynamics of the first heartsound, (2) to determine the relative contribution of the myocardium and the valves in determining first heartsound frequency, and (3) to develop new tools for non-stationary signal analysis. A resonant origin for first heartsound generation was tested through two studies in an open-chest canine preparation. Heartsounds were recorded using ultralight acceleration transducers cemented directly to the epicardium. The first heartsound was observed to be non-stationary and multicomponent. The most dominant feature was a powerful, rapidly-rising frequency component that preceded mitral valve closure. Two broadband components were observed; the first coincided with mitral valve closure while the second significantly preceded aortic valve opening. The spatial frequency of left ventricular vibrations was both high and non-stationary which indicated that the left ventricle was not vibrating passively in response to intracardiac pressure fluctuations but suggested instead that the first heartsound is a propagating transient. In the second study, regional myocardial ischemia was induced by left coronary circumflex arterial occlusion. Acceleration transducers were placed on the ischemic and non-ischemic myocardium to determine whether ischemia produced local or global changes in first heartsound amplitude and frequency. The two zones exhibited disparate amplitude and frequency behavior indicating that the first heartsound is not a resonant phenomenon. To objectively quantify the presence and orientation of signal components, Radon transformation of the time -frequency plane was performed and found to have considerable potential for pattern

The interrelation between the loudness of the first heartsound, the time interval from the Q wave to the onset of the first heartsound (QM1), and the mitral valve closure rate was studied in nine patients presenting with left atrial myxomata. In seven patients the first heartsound was loud preoperatively and was associated with delayed mitral valve closure. After removal of the myxoma the onset of mitral valve closure returned towards normal, the mitral valve closure rate was reduced, and the first heartsound became softer. In two patients the first heartsound was normal before and after operation as were both the time of onset of mitral valve closure and the mitral valve closure rate. In neither of these patients did the myxoma completely fill the mitral orifice during diastole. The loud first heartsound in left atrial myxoma is a useful clinical sign, and intensity is directly related to the delay in onset of closure of mitral leaflets.

This paper proposes the electronic heartsound sensor, based on the piezoresistive principle and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) technology. Firstly, according to the characteristics of heartsound detection, the double-beam-block microstructure has been proposed, and the theoretical analysis and finite element method (FEM) simulation have been carried out. Combined with the natural frequency response of the heartsound (20~600 Hz), its structure sizes have been determined. Secondly, the processing technology of the microstructure with the stress concentration grooves has been developed. The material and sizes of the package have been determined by the three-layer medium transmission principle. Lastly, the MEMS piezoresistive electronic heartsound sensor has been tested compared with the 3200-type electronic stethoscope from 3M (São Paulo, MN, USA). The test results show that the heartsound waveform tested by the MEMS electronic heartsound sensor are almost the same as that tested by the 3200-type electronic stethoscope. Moreover, its signal-to-noise ratio is significantly higher. Compared with the traditional stethoscope, the MEMS heartsound sensor can provide the first and second heartsounds containing more abundant information about the lesion. Compared with the 3200-type electronic stethoscope from 3M, it has better performance and lower cost.

This paper proposes the electronic heartsound sensor, based on the piezoresistive principle and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) technology. Firstly, according to the characteristics of heartsound detection, the double-beam-block microstructure has been proposed, and the theoretical analysis and finite element method (FEM) simulation have been carried out. Combined with the natural frequency response of the heartsound (20~600 Hz), its structure sizes have been determined. Secondly, the processing technology of the microstructure with the stress concentration grooves has been developed. The material and sizes of the package have been determined by the three-layer medium transmission principle. Lastly, the MEMS piezoresistive electronic heartsound sensor has been tested compared with the 3200-type electronic stethoscope from 3M (São Paulo, MN, USA). The test results show that the heartsound waveform tested by the MEMS electronic heartsound sensor are almost the same as that tested by the 3200-type electronic stethoscope. Moreover, its signal-to-noise ratio is significantly higher. Compared with the traditional stethoscope, the MEMS heartsound sensor can provide the first and second heartsounds containing more abundant information about the lesion. Compared with the 3200-type electronic stethoscope from 3M, it has better performance and lower cost. PMID:27827981

Respiratory sounds are always contaminated by heartsound interference. An essential preprocessing step in some of the heartsound cancellation methods is localizing primary heartsound components. Singular spectrum analysis (SSA), a powerful time series analysis technique, is used in this paper. Despite the frequency overlap of the heart and lung sound components, two different trends in the eigenvalue spectra are recognizable, which leads to find a subspace that contains more information about the underlying heartsound. Artificially mixed and real respiratory signals are used for evaluating the performance of the method. Selecting the appropriate length for the SSA window results in good decomposition quality and low computational cost for the algorithm. The results of the proposed method are compared with those of well-established methods, which use the wavelet transform and entropy of the signal to detect the heartsound components. The proposed method outperforms the wavelet-based method in terms of false detection and also correlation with the underlying heartsounds. Performance of the proposed method is slightly better than that of the entropy-based method. Moreover, the execution time of the former is significantly lower than that of the latter.

This work presents a heartsound biometric system based on marginal spectrum analysis, which is a new feature extraction technique for identification purposes. This heartsound identification system is comprised of signal acquisition, pre-processing, feature extraction, training, and identification. Experiments on the selection of the optimal values for the system parameters are conducted. The results indicate that the new spectrum coefficients result in a significant increase in the recognition rate of 94.40% compared with that of the traditional Fourier spectrum (84.32%) based on a database of 280 heartsounds from 40 participants. PMID:23429515

This work presents a heartsound biometric system based on marginal spectrum analysis, which is a new feature extraction technique for identification purposes. This heartsound identification system is comprised of signal acquisition, pre-processing, feature extraction, training, and identification. Experiments on the selection of the optimal values for the system parameters are conducted. The results indicate that the new spectrum coefficients result in a significant increase in the recognition rate of 94.40% compared with that of the traditional Fourier spectrum (84.32%) based on a database of 280 heartsounds from 40 participants.

In the hospital, using percussion and auscultation are the most common ways for physical examination. Recently, in order to develop tele-medicine and home care system and to assist physician getting better auscultation results; electric stethoscope and computer analysis have become an inevitable trend. However, two important physical signals heartsound and lung sound recorded from chest overlap on spectrum chart. Therefore, in order to reduce human factor (ex. misplace or untrained of using) and minimize correlated effect in computer analysis; it's necessary for separated heartsound and lung sound. Independent component analysis can divide these sounds efficiency. In this paper, we use two microphones to collect signals from left and right chest. We have successfully divide heart and lung sounds by fast ICA algorithm. Therefore, it can assist physician examine and also using on tele-medicine and home care by this way.

As there are various difficulties associated with auscultation techniques, we have devised a technique for visualizing heart motion in order to assist in the understanding of heartbeat for both doctors and patients. Auscultatory sounds were first visualized using FFT and Wavelet analysis to visualize heartsounds. Next, to show global and simultaneous heart motions, a new technique for visualization was established. The visualization system consists of a 64-channel unit (63 acceleration sensors and one ECG sensor) and a signal/image analysis unit. The acceleration sensors were arranged in a square array (8×8) with a 20-mm pitch interval, which was adhered to the chest surface. The heart motion of one cycle was visualized at a sampling frequency of 3 kHz and quantization of 12 bits. The visualized results showed a typical waveform motion of the strong pressure shock due to closing tricuspid valve and mitral valve of the cardiac apex (first sound), and the closing aortic and pulmonic valve (second sound) in sequence. To overcome difficulties in auscultation, the system can be applied to the detection of heart disease and to the digital database management of the auscultation examination in medical areas.

People with serious heart conditions have had their expected life span extended considerably with the development of the prosthetic heart valve especially with the great strides made in valve design. Even though the designs are extremely reliable, the valves are mechanical and operating continuously over a long period, therefore, structural failures can occur due to fatigue. Measuring heartsounds non-invasively in a noisy environment puts more demands on the signal processing to extract the desired signals from the noise. In this paper the authors discuss acoustical signal processing techniques developed to process noisy heart valve sounds measured by a sensitive, surface contact microphone and used for the eventual classification of the valve.

In this paper is described a comprehensive system, which can acquire heartsounds and electrocardiogram (ECG) in parallel, synchronize the display; and play of heartsound and make auscultation and check phonocardiogram to tie in. The hardware system with C8051F340 as the core acquires the heartsound and ECG synchronously, and then sends them to indicators, respectively. Heartsounds are displayed and played simultaneously by controlling the moment of writing to indicator and sound output device. In clinical testing, heartsounds can be successfully located with ECG and real-time played.

Heartsounds are associated with impulses of force acting on heart valves at the moment they close under the action of blood-pressure difference. A unified model for all the valves represents this impulse as an acoustic dipole. The near pressure field of this dipole creates a distribution of the normal velocity on the breast surface with features typical of auscultation practice: a pronounced localization of heartsound audibility areas, an individual area for each of the valves, and a noncoincidence of these areas with the projections of the valves onto the breast surface. In the framework of the dipole theory, the optimum size of the stethoscope’s bell is found and the spectrum of the heartsounds is estimated. The estimates are compared with the measured spectrum.

Heartsound localization in chest sound is an essential part for many heartsound cancellation algorithms. The main difficulty for heartsound localization methods is the precise determination of the onset and offset boundaries of the heartsound segment. This paper presents a novel method to estimate lower and upper bounds for the onset and offset of the heartsound segment, which can be used as anchor points for more precise estimation. For this purpose, first chest sound is divided into frames and then entropy and smoothed entropy features of these frames are extracted, and used in the Convex-hull algorithm to estimate the upper and lower bounds for heartsound boundaries. The Convex-hull algorithm constructs a special type of envelope function for entropy features and if the maximal difference between the envelope function and the entropy is larger than a certain threshold, this point is considered as a heartsound bound. The results of the proposed method are compared with a baseline method which is a modified version of a well-known heartsound localization method. The results show that the proposed method outperforms the baseline method in terms of accuracy and detection error rate. Also, the experimental results show that smoothing entropy features significantly improves the performance of both baseline and proposed methods.

The association between infants with congenital heart block (CHB) and the presence or later development of maternal systemic lupus erythematosus or other connective-tissue disease (CTD) was reviewed in 67 cases. In 24 cases CHB was diagnosed at or before birth. Of nine necropsies on affected infants, seven showed endomyocardial fibrosis. The results suggest that one in three mothers who deliver babies with CHB have or will develop CTD. The association is probably explained by placental transfer of a maternal antibody. Awareness of the association may lead to prevention of the birth of children with CHB and better neonatal care of affected children. PMID:455010

Pregnant mothers often report a special awareness of and bonding with their unborn child. Little is known about this relationship although it may offer potential for the assessment of the fetal condition. Recently we found evidence of short epochs of fetal–maternalheart rate synchronization under uncontrolled conditions with spontaneous maternal breathing. Here, we examine whether the occurrence of such epochs can be influenced by maternal respiratory arrhythmia induced by paced breathing at several different rates (10, 12, 15, and 20 cycles per minute). To test for such weak and nonstationary synchronizations among the fetal–maternal subsystems, we apply a multivariate synchronization analysis technique and test statistics based on twin surrogates. We find a clear increase in synchronization epochs mostly at high maternal respiratory rates in the original but not in the surrogate data. On the other hand, fewer epochs are found at low respiratory rates both in original and surrogate data. The results suggest that the fetal cardiac system seems to possess the capability to adjust its rate of activation in response to external—i.e., maternal—stimulation. Hence, the pregnant mothers' special awareness to the unborn child may also be reflected by fetal–maternal interaction of cardiac activity. Our approach opens up the chance to examine this interaction between independent but closely linked physiological systems. PMID:19597150

The effects of acoustic and visual stimuli and their synergistic effects on heart rate variability including gender differences were investigated. Of particular interest was the influence of visual stimulus on heart rate variability during listening to simple sounds of different characters. Twelve male and 12 female university students were selected as subjects. The subjects listened at rest to 7 different figures of sound at loudness levels averaging 60 dB. Beat-to-beat R-R intervals were continuously recorded under the closed-eye condition (CEC) and the open-eye condition (OEC) prior to, during, and immediately after the exposure to acoustic stimuli. Low frequency (LF) power was defined over 0.04-0.15 Hz and high frequency (HF) power over 0.15-0.40 Hz. Cardiac autonomic function was estimated by plotting LF/HF in standard measure against HF in standard measure and by plotting LF/HF (%) against HF (%), accompanied by a demarcated central area. Values of LF/HF tended to be smaller under CEC than under OEC. Values of HF while listening to a 110 Hz sine wave under CEC were significantly greater than values for 880 Hz and 3520 Hz sine waves, or for 110 Hz or 880 Hz sawtooth waves, under OEC. Under CEC, values of HF for 7 figures of sound were greater in females than in males. The value of HF of sine wave for 110 Hz under CEC and OEC was significantly greater than that for white noise under the OEC. The results suggest that the cardiac parasympathetic nervous activity during auditory excitation increases with elimination of visual stimuli and tends to be greater in females than in males.

It has been shown that short-term direct interaction between maternal and fetal heart rates may take place and that this interaction is affected by the rate of maternal respiration. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of maternal aerobic exercise during pregnancy on the occurrence of fetal-maternalheart rate synchronization. Methods In 40 pregnant women at the 36th week of gestation, 21 of whom exercised regularly, we acquired 18 min. RR interval time series obtained simultaneously in the mothers and their fetuses from magnetocardiographic recordings. The time series of the two groups were examined with respect to their heart rate variability, the maternal respiratory rate and the presence of synchronization epochs as determined on the basis of synchrograms. Surrogate data were used to assess whether the occurrence of synchronization was due to chance. Results In the original data, we found synchronization occurred less often in pregnancies in which the mothers had exercised regularly. These subjects also displayed higher combined fetal-maternalheart rate variability and lower maternal respiratory rates. Analysis of the surrogate data showed shorter epochs of synchronization and a lack of the phase coordination found between maternal and fetal beat timing in the original data. Conclusion The results suggest that fetal-maternalheart rate coupling is present but generally weak. Maternal exercise has a damping effect on its occurrence, most likely due to an increase in beat-to-beat differences, higher vagal tone and slower breathing rates. PMID:25162592

Maternal anxiety during pregnancy has been consistently shown to negatively affect offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, little is known about the impact of positive maternal traits/states during pregnancy on the offspring. The present study was aimed at investigating the effects of the mother's mindfulness and anxiety during pregnancy on the infant's neurocognitive functioning at 9 months of age. Mothers reported mindfulness using the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory and anxiety using the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) at ± 20.7 weeks of gestation. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured from 79 infants in an auditory oddball paradigm designed to measure auditory attention-a key aspect of early neurocognitive functioning. For the ERP responses elicited by standard sounds, higher maternal mindfulness was associated with lower N250 amplitudes (P < 0.01, η(2) = 0.097), whereas higher maternal anxiety was associated with higher N250 amplitudes (P < 0.05, η(2) = 0.057). Maternal mindfulness was also positively associated with the P150 amplitudes (P < 0.01, η(2) = 0.130). These results suggest that infants prenatally exposed to higher levels of maternal mindfulness devote fewer attentional resources to frequently occurring irrelevant sounds. The results show that positive traits and experiences of the mother during pregnancy may also affect the unborn child. Emphasizing the beneficial effects of a positive psychological state during pregnancy may promote healthy behavior in pregnant women.

Maternal anxiety during pregnancy has been consistently shown to negatively affect offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, little is known about the impact of positive maternal traits/states during pregnancy on the offspring. The present study was aimed at investigating the effects of the mother’s mindfulness and anxiety during pregnancy on the infant’s neurocognitive functioning at 9 months of age. Mothers reported mindfulness using the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory and anxiety using the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) at ±20.7 weeks of gestation. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured from 79 infants in an auditory oddball paradigm designed to measure auditory attention—a key aspect of early neurocognitive functioning. For the ERP responses elicited by standard sounds, higher maternal mindfulness was associated with lower N250 amplitudes (P < 0.01, η2 = 0.097), whereas higher maternal anxiety was associated with higher N250 amplitudes (P < 0.05, η2 = 0.057). Maternal mindfulness was also positively associated with the P150 amplitudes (P < 0.01, η2 = 0.130). These results suggest that infants prenatally exposed to higher levels of maternal mindfulness devote fewer attentional resources to frequently occurring irrelevant sounds. The results show that positive traits and experiences of the mother during pregnancy may also affect the unborn child. Emphasizing the beneficial effects of a positive psychological state during pregnancy may promote healthy behavior in pregnant women. PMID:24925904

People with serious cardiac problems have had their life span extended with the development of the prosthetic heart valve. However, the valves operate continuously at approximately 39 million cycles per year and are therefore subject to structural failures either by faulty design or material fatigue. The development of a non-invasive technique using an acoustic contact microphone and sophisticated signal processing techniques has been proposed and demonstrated on limited data sets. In this paper we discuss an extension of the techniques to perform the heart valve tests in an anechoic like. Here the objective is to extract a ''pure'' sound or equivalently the acoustical vibration response of the prosthetic valves in a quiet environment. The goal is to demonstrate that there clearly exist differences between values which have a specific mechanical defect known as single leg separation (SLS) and non-defective valves known as intact (INT). We discuss the signal processing and results of anechoic acoustic measurements on 50 prosthetic valves in the tank. Finally, we show the results of the individual runs for each valve, point out any of the meaningful features that could be used to distinguish the SLS from INT and summarize the experiments.

In order to assist the diagnosis procedure of heartsound signals, this paper presents a new automated method for classifying the heart status using a rule-based classification tree into normal and three abnormal cases; namely the aortic valve stenosis, aortic insufficient, and ventricular septum defect. The developed method includes three main steps as follows. First, one cycle of the heartsound signals is automatically detected and segmented based on time properties of the heart signals. Second, the segmented cycle is preprocessed with the discrete wavelet transform and then largest Lyapunov exponents are calculated to generate the dynamical features of heartsound time series. Finally, a rule-based classification tree is fed by these Lyapunov exponents to give the final decision of the heart health status. The developed method has been tested successfully on twenty-two datasets of normal heartsounds and murmurs with success rate of 95.5%. The resulting error can be easily corrected by modifying the classification rules; consequently, the accuracy of automated heartsounds diagnosis is further improved.

In this paper, a new method based on the nonlinear chaos theory was proposed to study the arrhythmia with the combination of the correlation dimension and largest Lyapunov exponent, through computing and analyzing these two parameters of 30 cases normal heartsound and 30 cases with arrhythmia. The results showed that the two parameters of the heartsounds with arrhythmia were higher than those with the normal, and there was significant difference between these two kinds of heartsounds. That is probably due to the irregularity of the arrhythmia which causes the decrease of predictability, and it's more complex than the normal heartsound. Therefore, the correlation dimension and the largest Lyapunov exponent can be used to analyze the arrhythmia and for its feature extraction.

The stochastic optimization method ALOPEX IV has been successfully applied to the problem of detecting possible changes in the maternalheart rate kinetics during pregnancy. For this reason, maternalheart rate data were recorded before, during and after gestation, during sessions of exercises of constant mild intensity; ALOPEX IV stochastic optimization was used to calculate the parameter values that optimally fit a dynamical systems model to the experimental data. The results not only demonstrate the effectiveness of ALOPEX IV stochastic optimization, but also have important implications in the area of exercise physiology, as they reveal important changes in the maternal cardiovascular dynamics, as a result of pregnancy.

This paper introduces a type of heartsound recording, analysis and processing system based on USB interface. The system consists of high performance sensor sampling heartsounds, the preprocessing circuit, the A/D conversion module and the USB based high-speed computer communications interface. The experiments show that it is noninvasive, convenient, inexpensive and rapid in detecting the cardiac contractility of patients with heart disease as well as of healthy subjects. This system has provided a reliable technical platform for evaluating the cardiac contractility reserve.

Heartsound signals acquisition is the primary basis for achieving non-invasive diagnosis of coronary heart disease. In this paper, a digital signal processor (DSP)-based on miniaturized circuit of heartsound signals acquisition and analysis platform was designed to achieve the functions of filtering, collecting, processing, displaying and the communicating with PC. With the self-developed experimental platform, we collected 228 cases of heartsounds of clinical data, and processed the signals using de-noising method with wavelet transform. These experimental results indicated that the db6 wavelet has the most obvious de-noising effect among the four most commonly used wavelets, i.e., haar, db6, sym8, and coif5. One wavelet at different levels possessed different de-noising effects, with level-5 db6 decomposition obtaining the most desirable result.

With the goal of facilitating the creation of relaxing sound environments in stressful places, such as offices, we examined differences in the heart rate fluctuations of men and women induced by different sounds. Twenty-three healthy students (13 males and 10 females) aged between 18 and 23 listened to seven different sounds while we collected electrocardiogram data. We extracted the high frequency component (HF) and low frequency component (LF) of the signals using the wavelet method, and calculated LF/HF. We found no statistically significant differences between males and females in the frequency distribution of a no change group, increased group, and decreased group for any sound. However, certain sounds had somewhat similar patterns for men and women for all three groups. Additionally, the pairs of experimental sounds with highly similar effects on individuals were different for men and women.

Efforts are concentrated on the sounds corresponding to the heart valve opening cycle. Valve opening and closing acoustics present additional information about the outlet strut condition---the structural component implicated in valve failure. The importance of the opening sound for single leg separation detection/classification is based on the fact that as the valve opens, the disk passively hits the outlet strut. The opening sounds thus yield direct information about outlet strut condition with minimal amount of disturbance caused by the energy radiated from the disk. Hence the opening sound is a very desirable acoustic signal to extract. Unfortunately, the opening sounds have much lower signal levels relative to the closing sounds and therefore noise plays a more significant role than during the closing event. Because of this it is necessary to screen the sounds for outliers in order to insure a high sensitivity of classification. Because of the sharp resonances appearing in the corresponding spectrum, a parametric processing approach is developed based on an autoregressive model which was selected to characterize the sounds emitted by the Bjork--Shiley convexo--concave (BSCC) valve during opening cycle. First the basic signals and the extraction process used to create an ensemble of heart valve sounds are briefly discussed. Next, a {ital beat} {ital monitor} capable of rejecting beats that fail to meet an acceptance criteria based on their spectral content is developed. Various approaches that have been utilized to enhance the screened data and produce a reliable {ital heart} {ital valve} {ital spectrogram} which displays the individual sounds (power) as a function of beat number and temporal frequency are discussed. Once estimated, the spectrogram and associated parameters are used to develop features supplied to the various classification schemes. Finally, future work aimed at even further signal enhancement and improved classifier performance is discussed.

This study presents the design, development and implementation of a simple low-cost method of phonocardiography signal detection. Human heart and lung signals are detected by using a simple microphone through a personal computer; the signals are recorded and analysed using LabView software. Amplitude and frequency analyses are carried out for various phonocardiography pathological cases. Methods for automatic classification of normal and abnormal heartsounds, murmurs and lung sounds are presented. Various cases of heart and lung sound measurement are recorded and analysed. The measurements can be saved for further analysis. The method in this study can be used by doctors as a detection tool aid and may be useful for teaching purposes at medical and nursing schools.

This paper presents the design and evaluation of the hardware circuit for electronic stethoscopes with heartsound cancellation capabilities using field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The adaptive line enhancer (ALE) was adopted as the filtering methodology to reduce heartsound attributes from the breath sounds obtained via the electronic stethoscope pickup. FPGAs were utilized to implement the ALE functions in hardware to achieve near real-time breath sound processing. We believe that such an implementation is unprecedented and crucial toward a truly useful, standalone medical device in outpatient clinic settings. The implementation evaluation with one Altera cyclone II–EP2C70F89 shows that the proposed ALE used 45% resources of the chip. Experiments with the proposed prototype were made using DE2-70 emulation board with recorded body signals obtained from online medical archives. Clear suppressions were observed in our experiments from both the frequency domain and time domain perspectives. PMID:24790573

Despite the prevalence of poverty worldwide, little is known about how early socioeconomic adversity affects auditory brain function. Socioeconomically disadvantaged children are underexposed to linguistically and cognitively stimulating environments and overexposed to environmental toxins, including noise pollution. This kind of sensory impoverishment, we theorize, has extensive repercussions on how the brain processes sound. To characterize how this impoverishment affects auditory brain function, we compared two groups of normal-hearing human adolescents who attended the same schools and who were matched in age, sex, and ethnicity, but differed in their maternal education level, a correlate of socioeconomic status (SES). In addition to lower literacy levels and cognitive abilities, adolescents from lower maternal education backgrounds were found to have noisier neural activity than their classmates, as reflected by greater activity in the absence of auditory stimulation. Additionally, in the lower maternal education group, the neural response to speech was more erratic over repeated stimulation, with lower fidelity to the input signal. These weaker, more variable, and noisier responses are suggestive of an inefficient auditory system. By studying SES within a neuroscientific framework, we have the potential to expand our understanding of how experience molds the brain, in addition to informing intervention research aimed at closing the achievement gap between high-SES and low-SES children.

In vivo studies in both sheep and humans were plagued by a number of problems including movement artifacts, biological noise, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), chest-wall reverberation, and limited bandwidth recordings as discussed by [1]. To overcome these problems it was decided to record heart valve sounds under controlled conditions deep in an anechoic water tank, free from reverberation noise. The main goal of this experiment was to obtain measurements of ''pure'' heart valve sounds free of the scattering effects of the body. Experiments were conducted at the Transdec facility in San Diego [2]. We used a high quality hydrophone together with a wide-band data acquisition system [2]. We recorded sounds from 100 repetitions of the opening-closing cycles on each of 50 different heart valves, including 21 SLS valves and 29 intact valves. The power spectrum of the opening and closing phases of each cycle were calculated and outlier spectra removed as described by Candy [2]. In this report, we discuss the results of our classification of the heart valve sound measurements. The goal of this classification task was to apply the fundamental classification algorithms developed for the clinical data in 1994 and 1996 to the measurements from the anechoic water tank. From the beginning of this project, LLNL's responsibility has been to process and classify the heart valve sounds. For this experiment, however, we processed both the opening sounds and closing sounds for comparison purposes. The results of this experiment show that the classifier did not perform well because of low signal-to-noise ratio and excessive variability in signal power from beat-to-beat for a given valve.

Evidence of the short term relationship between maternal and fetal heart rates has been found in previous studies. However there is still limited knowledge about underlying mechanisms and patterns of the coupling throughout gestation. In this study, Transfer Entropy (TE) was used to quantify directed interactions between maternal and fetal heart rates at various time delays and gestational ages. Experimental results using maternal and fetal electrocardiograms showed significant coupling for 63 out of 65 fetuses, by statistically validating against surrogate pairs. Analysis of TE showed a decrease in transfer of information from fetus to the mother with gestational age, alongside the maturation of the fetus. On the other hand, maternal to fetal TE was significantly greater in mid (26–31 weeks) and late (32–41 weeks) gestation compared to early (16–25 weeks) gestation (Mann Whitney Wilcoxon (MWW) p<0.05). TE further increased from mid to late, for the fetuses with RMSSD of fetal heart rate being larger than 4 msec in the late gestation. This difference was not observed for the fetuses with smaller RMSSD, which could be associated with the quiet sleep state. Delay in the information transfer from mother to fetus significantly decreased (p = 0.03) from mid to late gestation, implying a decrease in fetal response time. These changes occur concomitant with the maturation of the fetal sensory and autonomic nervous systems with advancing gestational age. The effect of maternal respiratory rate derived from maternal ECG was also investigated and no significant relationship was found between breathing rate and TE at any lag. In conclusion, the application of TE with delays revealed detailed information on the fetal-maternalheart rate coupling strength and latency throughout gestation, which could provide novel clinical markers of fetal development and well-being. PMID:26701122

To test the effect of maternal habits and home exposures during early pregnancy on the occurrence of congenital heart disease in the offspring, 406 cases and 756 controls were studied. The cases included all cardiovascular malformations detected in Finland during 1982-1983, while the healthy controls were randomly selected from all babies born during the same period. Case and control mothers were interviewed after delivery using a structured and pre-tested questionnaire. Maternal overall drug consumption during the first trimester was as prevalent among case mothers (13.3%) as controls (14.6%). Neither was the risk of congenital heart disease associated with maternal use of contraceptive pills, salicylates, diazepam, or sweetening agents separately. Maternal exposures to disinfectants, dyes, lacquers, paints, pesticides, or glues at home were equally prevalent in case and control groups. Several earlier miscarriages was a predictor of an infant born with congenital heart disease (OR = 2.7, CI95 = 1.4-5.3). Maternal ultrasound examination was performed during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy more often among the case group (28.3%) than among the control group (22.0%). However, the association between ultrasound examination and the risk of congenital heart disease in the offspring was not statistically significant (OR = 1.2, 95% confidence interval 0.9-1.7) when adjusted for confounding factors such as the threat of miscarriage in logistic regression analysis. It is concluded that maternal ultrasound examination, intake of some common drugs, and exposure to a number of environmental factors at home during early pregnancy are probably not harmful for the developing fetal heart.

In an attempt to explore methods to reduce total artificial heart (TAH) acceleration and sound production, in vitro measurements of TAH acceleration and sound were made when using a variety of prosthetic valves in a test ventricle. A miniature, uniaxial, high fidelity accelerometer was glued to the housing of a UTAH-100 left ventricle adjacent to the inflow and outflow ports and parallel to the axis of diaphragm excursion. A miniature, high fidelity contact microphone was glued to the opposite side of the ventricular housing between the inflow and outflow ports. Data was collected over a range of heart rates, ventricular filling volumes and control modes while using tilting disc valves (TDV) and polymer trileaflet valves (PTV). For both valve types, the peak systolic acceleration impulse was lower (approximately equal to 50%) when the ventricle was fully rather than partially filled and the peak diastolic acceleration impulse was lower (approximately equal to 50%) when the ventricle was fully rather than partially ejected. The magnitude of the acceleration with PTVs was approximately equal to 20x less than the TDVs (0.5 to 2.2 g vs. 10 to 49g). The magnitude of the sound production was also considerably less with the PTVs (28 to 49 db vs. 50 to 64 db). Diastolic acceleration and sound production was approximately twice the systolic value for the TDVs; the reserse was true for PTV sound production. These data demonstrate the substantial reduction in TAH impulse acceleration and sound production by selecting PTVs over TDSs. With PTVs, the TAH impulse acceleration is the same as the natural heart. Consequently, this ability to lower TAH acceleration and sound production to the level of the natural heart may lead to a reduction in component wear, patient discomfort and other undesirable consequences of TAH implantation.

The investigation of foetal reaction to internal and external conditions and stimuli is an important tool in the characterization of the developing neural integration of the foetus. An interesting example of this is the study of the interrelationship between the foetal and the maternalheart rate. Recent studies have shown a certain likelihood of occasional heart rate synchronization between mother and foetus. In the case of respiratory-induced heart rate changes, the comparison with maternal surrogates suggests that the evidence for detected synchronization is largely statistical and does not result from physiological interaction. Rather, they simply reflect a stochastic, temporary stability of two independent oscillators with time-variant frequencies. We reanalysed three datasets from that study for a more local consideration. Epochs of assumed synchronization associated with short-term regulation of the foetal heart rate were selected and compared with synchronization resulting from white noise instead of the foetal signal. Using data-driven modelling analysis, it was possible to identify the consistent influence of the heartbeat duration of maternal beats preceding the foetal beats during epochs of synchronization. These maternal beats occurred approximately one maternal respiratory cycle prior to the affected foetal beat. A similar effect could not be found in the epochs without synchronization. Simulations based on the fitted models led to a higher likelihood of synchronization in the data segments with assumed foetal-maternal interaction than in the segment without such assumed interaction. We conclude that the data-driven model-based analysis can be a useful tool for the identification of synchronization.

The computer is being used in an innovative manner to teach the recognition of normal and abnormal canine heartsounds at the University of Chicago. Experience thus far indicates that the PLATO program resources allow the maximum development of the student's proficiency in auscultation. (Editor/LBH)

People with heart problems have had their lives extended considerably with the development of the prosthetic heart valve. Great strides have been made in the development of the valves through the use of improved materials as well as efficient mechanical designs. However, since the valves operate continuously over a long period, structural failures can occur-even though they are relatively uncommon. Here the development of techniques to classify the valve either as having intact struts or as having a separated strut, commonly called single leg separation, is discussed. In this paper the signal processing techniques employed to extract the required signals/parameters are briefly reviewed and then it is shown how they can be used to simulate a synthetic heart valve database for eventual Monte Carlo testing. Next, the optimal classifier is developed under assumed conditions and its performance is compared to that of an adpative-type classifier implemented with a probabilistic neural network. Finally, the adaptive classifier is applied to a data set and its performance is analyzed. Based on synthetic data it is shown that excellent performance of the classifiers can be achieved implying a potentially robust solution to this classification problem. 21 refs., 11 figs., 1 tab.

In vivo studies in both sheep and humans were plagued by a number of problems including movement artifacts, biological noise, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), chest-wall reverberation, and limited bandwidth recordings as discussed by [1]. To overcome these problems it was decided to record heart valve sounds under controlled conditions deep in an anechoic water tank, free from reverberation noise, including surface reflections. Experiments were conducted in a deep water tank at the Transdec facility in San Diego, which satisfies these requirements. The Transdec measurements are free of reverberations, but not totally free of acoustic and electrical noise. We used a high quality hydrophone together with a wide-band data acquisition system [2]. We recorded sounds from 100 repetitions of the opening-closing cycles on each of 50 different heart valves, including 21 SLS valves and 29 intact valves. The power spectrum of the opening and closing phases of each cycle were calculated and outlier spectra removed as described by Candy [2]. In this report, we discuss the results of our classification of the heart valve sound measurements. The goal of this classification task was to apply the fundamental classification algorithms developed for the clinical data in 1994 and 1996 to the measurements from the anechoic water tank. From the beginning of this project, LLNL's responsibility has been to process and classify the heart valve opening sounds. For this experiment, however, we processed both the opening sounds and closing sounds for comparison purposes. The results of this experiment show that the classifier did not perform well. We believe this is because of low signal-to-noise ratio and excessive variability in signal power from beat-to-beat for a given valve.

Murmur is the result of various heart abnormalities. A new robust approach for separation of murmur from heartsound has been suggested in this article. Singular spectrum analysis (SSA) has been adapted to the changes in the statistical properties of the data and effectively used for detection of murmur from single-channel heartsound (HS) signals. Incorporating a cleverly selected a priori within the SSA reconstruction process, results in an accurate separation of normal HS from the murmur segment. Another contribution of this work is selection of the correct subspace of the desired signal component automatically. In addition, the subspace size can be identified iteratively. A number of HS signals with murmur have been processed using the proposed adaptive SSA (ASSA) technique and the results have been quantified both objectively and subjectively.

Background: Information about known risk factors for congenital heart disease is scarce. In this population-based study, we aimed to investigate the relation between maternal chronic disease and congenital heart disease in offspring. Methods: The study cohort consisted of 1 387 650 live births from 2004 to 2010. We identified chronic disease in mothers and mild and severe forms of congenital heart disease in their offspring from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance medical claims. We used multivariable logistic regression analysis to assess the associations of all cases and specific types of congenital heart disease with various maternal chronic diseases. Results: For mothers with the following chronic diseases, the overall prevalence of congenital heart disease in their children was significantly higher than for mothers without these diseases: diabetes mellitus type 1 (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.66–3.25), diabetes mellitus type 2 (adjusted OR 2.85, 95% CI 2.60–3.12), hypertension (adjusted OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.69–2.07), congenital heart defects (adjusted OR 3.05, 95% CI 2.45–3.80), anemia (adjusted OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.25–1.38), connective tissue disorders (adjusted OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.19–1.62), epilepsy (adjusted OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.08–1.74) and mood disorders (adjusted OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.11–1.41). The same pattern held for mild forms of congenital heart disease. A higher prevalence of severe congenital heart disease was seen only among offspring of mothers with congenital heart defects or type 2 diabetes. Interpretation: The children of women with several kinds of chronic disease appear to be at risk for congenital heart disease. Preconception counselling and optimum treatment of pregnant women with chronic disease would seem prudent. PMID:27729382

Maternal age is a risk factor for congenital heart disease even in the absence of any chromosomal abnormality in the newborn. Whether the basis of this risk resides with the mother or oocyte is unknown. The impact of maternal age on congenital heart disease can be modelled in mouse pups that harbour a mutation of the cardiac transcription factor gene Nkx2-5 (ref. 8). Here, reciprocal ovarian transplants between young and old mothers establish a maternal basis for the age-associated risk in mice. A high-fat diet does not accelerate the effect of maternal ageing, so hyperglycaemia and obesity do not simply explain the mechanism. The age-associated risk varies with the mother's strain background, making it a quantitative genetic trait. Most remarkably, voluntary exercise, whether begun by mothers at a young age or later in life, can mitigate the risk when they are older. Thus, even when the offspring carry a causal mutation, an intervention aimed at the mother can meaningfully reduce their risk of congenital heart disease.

Abstract Complete heart block (CHB) is a potentially fatal condition occurring in approximately 1:10000 fetuses. Whilst it is well recognised that maternal anti‐Ro and La antibodies are associated with fetal CHB, there are multiple other manifestations of fetal exposure to these autoantibodies which are not widely appreciated and rarely diagnosed. The importance of identifying affected fetuses lies in the significantly increased risk of recurrence in future pregnancies, and the potential for treatments which may modify this risk. This paper presents several cases to highlight the varying fetal presentations of maternal anti‐Ro and La antibodies. PMID:28191254

We proposed a research of a heartsound envelope extraction system in this paper. The system was implemented on LabVIEW based on the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT). We firstly used the sound card to collect the heartsound, and then implemented the complete system program of signal acquisition, pretreatment and envelope extraction on LabVIEW based on the theory of HHT. Finally, we used a case to prove that the system could collect heartsound, preprocess and extract the envelope easily. The system was better to retain and show the characteristics of heartsound envelope, and its program and methods were important to other researches, such as those on the vibration and voice, etc.

This paper introduces a realtime system which can acquire,process,store and display heartsounds and electrocardiogram(ECG) of the human body at the same time.It is composed of superior microprocessor--Atmega128L,large capacity Flash and the new type LCD.All hardwares adopt low power design and surface mounting package. The specialities of the system are low power, compact, and high intelligence. In consideration of transplant and solidity of the system, at the same time, it ensures that some complicated arithmetic can be realized.The system software applies mold construction and programs in C language. A model for automatic arithmetic is established for the feature extraction of ECG, realtime cardiotach ambulatory analysis is realized. The system is capable of recording ECG and heartsounds information in succession for 48 hours and it stores the no compression data synchronously. More than ten types of familiar heart diseases can be diagnosed in time by it automatically. The testing data achieved from this system is dependable, the diagnosing result is accurate and the waveform is no distortion. It solved a problem within the same kind of products effectively, that is, the dynamic ECG and heartsounds signal are acquired separately. The system do not affect the daily living and working of human being when it is used, so it is suited for clinical and family monitoring.

The resolving power of the auditory apparatus permits discrete vibrations associated with cardiac activity to be perceived as one or more events. Irrespective of the vibratory combinations recorded by conventional phonocardiography, in normal adults and in most adult patients auscultators tend to discriminate only two discrete events associated with the first heartsound S1. It is stressed that the heartsound S4 may be present when a binary acoustic event associated with S1 occurs in the sequence 'low pitched sound preceding high pitched sound', i.e., its components are perceived by auscultation as 'dull-sharp'. The question of S4 audibility arises in those individuals, normal and diseased, in whom the major components of S1 ought to be, at least clinically, at their customary high pitch and indeed on the PCG appear as high frequency oscillations. It is revealed that the apparent audibility of recorded S4 is not related to P-R interval, P-S4 interval, or relative amplitude of S4. The significant S4-LFC (low frequency component of S1) differences can be related to acoustic modification of the early component of S1.

Right-sided and left-sided obstructive heart defects (OHDs) are subtypes of congenital heart defects, in which the heart valves, arteries, or veins are abnormally narrow or blocked. Previous studies have suggested that the development of OHDs involved a complex interplay between genetic variants and maternal factors. Using the data from 569 OHD case families and 1,644 control families enrolled in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) between 1997 and 2008, we conducted an analysis to investigate the genetic effects of 877 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 60 candidate genes for association with the risk of OHDs, and their interactions with maternal use of folic acid supplements, and pre-pregnancy obesity. Applying log-linear models based on the hybrid design, we identified a SNP in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene (C677T polymorphism) with a main genetic effect on the occurrence of OHDs. In addition, multiple SNPs in betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT and BHMT2) were also identified to be associated with the occurrence of OHDs through significant main infant genetic effects and interaction effects with maternal use of folic acid supplements. We also identified multiple SNPs in glutamate-cysteine ligase, catalytic subunit (GCLC) and DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase 3 beta (DNMT3B) that were associated with elevated risk of OHDs among obese women. Our findings suggested that the risk of OHDs was closely related to a combined effect of variations in genes in the folate, homocysteine, or glutathione/transsulfuration pathways, maternal use of folic acid supplements and pre-pregnancy obesity.

Auscultation is a routine exam and the first line of screening in heart pathologies. The objective of this study was to assess if using a new data collection system, the DigiScope Collector, with a guided and automatic annotation of heart auscultation, different levels of expertise/experience users could collect similar digital auscultations. Data were collected within the Heart Caravan Initiative (Paraíba, Brasil). Patients were divided into two study groups: Group 1 evaluated by a third year medical student (User 1), and an experienced nurse (User 2); Group 2 evaluated by User 2 and an Information Technology professional (User 3). Patients were auscultated sequentially by the two users, according to the randomization. Features extracted from each data set included the length (HR) of the audio files, the number of repetitions per auscultation area, heart rate, first (S1) and second (S2) heartsound amplitudes, S2/S1, and aortic (A2) and pulmonary (P2) components of the second heartsound and relative amplitudes (P2/A2). Features extracted were compared between users using paired-sample test Wilcoxon test, and Spearman correlations (P

Contemporaneous associations between circulating maternal organochlorines (OCs) and measures of fetal heart rate and motor activity were evaluated. A panel of 47 OCs, including pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), was analyzed from serum of 50 pregnant women at 36 weeks gestation. Data were empirically reduced into four factors and six individual compounds. All participants had detectable concentrations of at least one-quarter of the assayed OCs and, in general, higher socioeconomic level was associated with higher OC concentrations. Fetal heart rate measures were not consistently associated with maternal OCs. In contrast, one or more indicators of greater fetal motor activity were significantly associated with higher levels of the DDT and low chlorinated OC factors and five of the six individual compounds (heptachlor epoxide, trans nonachlor, oxychlordane, and PCBs 18 and 52). This preliminary demonstration of associations between fetal motor activity and maternal concentrations of persistent and pervasive environmental contaminants suggests that fetal assessment may be useful in ascertaining the potential early effects of these compounds on development.

Contemporaneous associations between circulating maternal organochlorines and measures of fetal heart rate and motor activity were evaluated. A panel of 47 organochlorines (OCs), including pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), was analyzed from serum of 50 pregnant women at 36 weeks gestation. Data were empirically reduced into four factors and six individual compounds. All participants had detectable concentrations of at least one-quarter of the assayed OCs and, in general, higher socioeconomic level was associated with higher OC concentrations. Fetal heart rate measures were not consistently associated with maternal OCs. In contrast, one or more indicators of greater fetal motor activity were significantly associated with higher levels of the DDT and low chlorinated OC factors and five of the six individual compounds (heptachlor epoxide, trans nonachlor, oxychlordane, and PCBs 18 and 52). This preliminary demonstration of associations between fetal motor activity and maternal concentrations of persistent and pervasive environmental contaminants suggests that fetal assessment may be useful in ascertaining the potential early effects of these compounds on development. PMID:23591698

Background: Obesity affects almost one-third of pregnant women and causes many complications, including neural tube defects. It is not clear whether the risk of congenital heart defects, the most common malformations, is also increased. Objective: This study was conducted to determine whether obesity is associated with an increased risk of congenital heart defects. Design: A population-based, nested, case-control study was conducted in infants born with congenital heart defects and unaffected controls from the cohort of all births (n = 1,536,828) between 1993 and 2003 in New York State, excluding New York City. The type of congenital heart defect, maternal body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2), and other risk factors were obtained from the Congenital Malformations Registry and vital records. Mothers of 7392 congenital heart defect cases and 56,304 unaffected controls were studied. Results: All obese women (BMI ≥ 30) were significantly more likely than normal-weight women (BMI: 19–24.9) to have children with a congenital heart defect [odds ratio (OR): 1.15; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.23; P < 0.0001]. Overweight women were not at increased risk (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.94, 1.06). The risk in morbidly obese women (BMI ≥ 40) was higher (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.54; P = 0.0001) than that in obese women with a BMI of 30–39.9 (OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.20; P = 0.004). There was a highly significant trend of increasing OR for congenital heart defects with increasing maternal obesity (P < 0.0001). The offspring of obese women had significantly higher ORs for atrial septal defects, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, aortic stenosis, pulmonic stenosis, and tetralogy of Fallot. Conclusions: Obese, but not overweight, women are at significantly increased risk of bearing children with a range of congenital heart defects, and the risk increases with increasing BMI. Weight reduction as a way to reduce risk should be investigated. PMID:20375192

Eleven mother-infant pairs were studied to determine the effect of maternal caffeine ingestion (500 mg/day) on heart rate and sleep time of the infants. In a balanced cross-over design, mothers ingested 5 cups of decaffeinated coffee daily during one 5-day period and 5 cups of decaffeinated coffee with added caffeine (100 mg/cup) during another 5-day period. Concentrations of caffeine in milk on the last day of the caffeine period ranged from 1.6 to 6.2 micrograms/ml and the intake of caffeine by the infants was estimated to be 0.3-1.0 mg/kg/day. Infant serum did not contain detectable amounts of caffeine on the last day of either experimental period. Performance during the caffeine and no-caffeine periods was not significantly different with respect to either 24-hour heart rate or sleep time.

Background In this paper, we developed a novel algorithm to detect the valvular split between the aortic and pulmonary components in the second heartsound which is a valuable medical information. Methods The algorithm is based on the Reassigned smoothed pseudo Wigner–Ville distribution which is a modified time–frequency distribution of the Wigner–Ville distribution. A preprocessing amplitude recovery procedure is carried out on the analysed heartsound to improve the readability of the time–frequency representation. The simulated S2 heartsounds were generated by an overlapping frequency modulated chirp–based model at different valvular split durations. Results Simulated and real heartsounds are processed to highlight the performance of the proposed approach. The algorithm is also validated on real heartsounds of the LGB–IRCM (Laboratoire de Génie biomédical–Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal) cardiac valve database. The A2–P2 valvular split is accurately detected by processing the obtained RSPWVD representations for both simulated and real data. PMID:23631738

Child development may be subject to forms of motor, physical, cognitive and self-representation impairments when complex congenital heart disease (CHD) occurs. In some cases, inadequacy of both self-representation as well as the family system are displayed. It seems to be important to search the likely internal and external resources of the CHD child, and the possible connections among such resources, which may help him/her to manage his/her own risk condition. The research project inquires the possible resources related to the self-representation and self-esteem levels of the CHD child, and those related to maternal self-perception as competent mothers. A group of 25 children (mean age = 10.2; SD=1.8) suffering from specific forms of CHD, and a group made up of their relative mothers (mean age = 38.2; SD=5) were studied. The tools used were the Human Figure Drawing, to investigate child body-related self-representation; the TMA scale (Self-esteem Multidimensional Test), to investigate the child's self-esteem; and the Q-sort questionnaire, to assess how mothers perceived their maternal competence. Data concerning the likely correlations between the child's self-representation and the maternal role competence show [that] positive correlations between some indicators of maternal competence, specific aspects of CHD children's self-representation (mothers' emotional coping and children's self-image adequacy) and self-esteem (mothers' emotional scaffolding and children's self-esteem at an emotional level). By detecting the occurrence of specific correlations among resources of both child and mother, the study provides cardiologists with information that is useful for building a relationship with the families concerned, which would seem to enhance the quality of the process of the cure itself. PMID:23667730

Child development may be subject to forms of motor, physical, cognitive and self-representation impairments when complex congenital heart disease (CHD) occurs. In some cases, inadequacy of both self-representation as well as the family system are displayed. It seems to be important to search the likely internal and external resources of the CHD child, and the possible connections among such resources, which may help him/her to manage his/her own risk condition. The research project inquires the possible resources related to the self-representation and self-esteem levels of the CHD child, and those related to maternal self-perception as competent mothers. A group of 25 children (mean age = 10.2; SD=1.8) suffering from specific forms of CHD, and a group made up of their relative mothers (mean age = 38.2; SD=5) were studied. The tools used were the Human Figure Drawing, to investigate child body-related self-representation; the TMA scale (Self-esteem Multidimensional Test), to investigate the child's self-esteem; and the Q-sort questionnaire, to assess how mothers perceived their maternal competence. Data concerning the likely correlations between the child's self-representation and the maternal role competence show [that] positive correlations between some indicators of maternal competence, specific aspects of CHD children's self-representation (mothers' emotional coping and children's self-image adequacy) and self-esteem (mothers' emotional scaffolding and children's self-esteem at an emotional level). By detecting the occurrence of specific correlations among resources of both child and mother, the study provides cardiologists with information that is useful for building a relationship with the families concerned, which would seem to enhance the quality of the process of the cure itself.

Background Delivery of a small for gestational age (SGA) infant has been associated with increased maternal risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD). It is uncertain whether giving birth to SGA infant is a specific determinant of later IHD, independent of other risk factors, or a marker of general poor health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between delivery of a SGA infant and maternal risk for IHD in relation to traditional IHD risk factors. Methods and Findings Risk of maternal IHD was evaluated in a population based cross-sectional study of 6,608 women with a prior live term birth who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999–2006), a probability sample of the U.S. population. Sequence of events was determined from age at last live birth and at diagnosis of IHD. Delivery of a SGA infant is strongly associated with greater maternal risk for IHD (age adjusted OR; 95% CI: 1.8; 1.2, 2.9; p = 0.012). The association was independent of the family history of IHD, stroke, hypertension and diabetes (family history-adjusted OR; 95% CI: 1.9; 1.2, 3.0; p = 0.011) as well as other risk factors for IHD (risk factor-adjusted OR; 95% CI: 1.7; 1.1, 2.7; p = 0.025). Delivery of a SGA infant was associated with earlier onset of IHD and preceded it by a median of 30 (interquartile range: 20, 36) years. Conclusions Giving birth to a SGA infant is strongly and independently associated with IHD and a potential risk factor that precedes IHD by decades. A pregnancy that produces a SGA infant may induce long-term cardiovascular changes that increase risk for IHD. PMID:22431995

BACKGROUND Pregnancy is associated with several cardiocirculatory changes that can significantly impact underlying cardiac disease. These changes include an increase in cardiac output, sodium, and water retention leading to blood volume expansion, and reductions in systemic vascular resistance and systemic blood pressure. In addition, pregnancy results in a hypercoagulable state that increases the risk of thromboembolic complications. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to assess the maternal and fetal outcomes of pregnant women with mechanical prosthetic heart valves (PHVs). METHODS This is a prospective observational study that included 100 pregnant patients with cardiac mechanical valve prostheses on anticoagulant therapy. The main maternal outcomes included thromboembolic or hemorrhagic complications, prosthetic valve thrombosis, and acute decompensated heart failure. Fetal outcomes included miscarriage, fetal death, live birth, small-for-gestational age, and warfarin embryopathy. The relationship between the following were observed: – Maternal and fetal complications and the site of the replaced valve (mitral, aortic, or double)– Maternal and fetal complications and warfarin dosage (≤5 mg, >5 mg)– Maternal and fetal complications and the type of anticoagulation administered during the first trimester RESULTS This study included 60 patients (60%) with mitral valve replacement (MVR), 22 patients (22%) with aortic valve replacement (AVR), and 18 patients (18%) with double valve replacement (DVR). A total of 65 patients (65%) received >5 mg of oral anticoagulant (warfarin), 33 patients (33%) received ≤5 mg of warfarin, and 2 patients (2%) received low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH; enoxaparin sodium) throughout the pregnancy. A total of 17 patients (17%) received oral anticoagulant (warfarin) during the first trimester: 9 patients received a daily warfarin dose of >5 mg while the remaining 8 patients received a daily dose of ≤5 mg. Twenty

Prenatal sensory experience, notably auditory experience, is a source of fetal memories in many species. The contiguity between sensory stimuli and maternal emotional reactions provides opportunity for associative learning in utero but no clear evidence for this associative learning has been presented to date. Understanding this phenomenon would advance our knowledge of fetal sensory learning capacities. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that sounds (human voice) broadcast to pregnant sows while they experienced positive or negative emotional situations influences postnatal reactions of their offspring to these same sounds. The results show that: 1) from the first testing at the age of 2 days, the experimental piglets were less distressed by a social separation than controls if they heard the “familiar” voice, 2) piglets generalized to any human voice although the influence of novel voices was less pronounced, 3) in a challenging situation, piglets were more distressed if they heard the voice that was associated with maternal negative emotional state in utero. These findings open a whole line of new research on the long term effect of in utero associative learning that goes well beyond pigs, providing a framework for reconsidering the importance of sensory and emotional experiences during gestation. PMID:27857224

Objective To evaluate whether the association between maternal periconceptional use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and increased risk of congenital heart defects in offspring is modified by maternal or infant genetic variants in folate, homocysteine, or transsulfuration pathways.Design Population based study. DNA from mothers, fathers, and infants was genotyped with an Illumina GoldenGate custom single nucleotide polymorphism panel. A hybrid design based on a log linear model was used to calculate relative risks and Bayesian false discovery probabilities (BFDP) to identify polymorphisms associated with congenital heart defects modified by SSRI use.Data sources Data from the US National Birth Defects Prevention Study on 1180 liveborn infants with congenital heart defects and 1644 controls, born 1997-2008.Main outcome measures Cases included infants with selected congenital heart defects and control infants had no major defects. SSRI use was obtained from telephone interviews with mothers.Results For women who reported taking SSRIs periconceptionally, maternal SHMT1 (rs9909104) GG and AGgenotypes were associated with a 5.9 and 2.4 increased risk of select congenital heart defects in offspring, respectively, versus the AA genotype (BFDP=0.69). Compared with the AA genotype, BHMT (rs492842 and rs542852) GG and AG genotypes were associated with twice the riskof congenital heart defects (BFDP=0.74 and 0.79, respectively). MGST1 (rs2075237) CC and ACgenotypes were associated with an increased risk compared with the GG genotype (8.0 and 2.8, respectively; BFDP=0.79). Single nucleotide polymorphism in infant genes in the folate (MTHFS rs12438477), homocysteine (TRDMT1 rs6602178 and GNMT rs11752813) and transsulfuration (GSTP1 rs7941395 and MGST1 rs7294985) pathways were also associated with an increased risk of congenital heart defects.Conclusions Common maternal or infant genetic variants in folate, homocysteine, or transsulfuration pathways are

Mounting evidence suggests that interoceptive signals are fundamentally important for the experience of the self. Thus far, studies on interoception have mainly focused on the ability to monitor the timing of ongoing heartbeats and on how these influence emotional and self-related processes. However, cardiac afferent signalling is not confined to heartbeat timing and several other cardiac parameters characterize cardiodynamic functioning. Building on the fact that each heart has its own self-specific cardio-dynamics, which cannot be expressed uniquely by heart rate, we devised a novel task to test whether people could recognize the sound of their own heart even when perceived offline and thus not in synchrony with ongoing heartbeats. In a forced-choice paradigm, participants discriminated between sounds of their own heartbeat (previously recorded with a Doppler device) versus another person's heart. Participants identified the sound of their own heart above chance, whereas their metacognition of performance - as calculated by contrasting performance against ratings of confidence - was considerably poorer. These results suggest an implicit access to fine-grained neural representations of elementary cardio-dynamic parameters beyond heartbeat timing.

Mounting evidence suggests that interoceptive signals are fundamentally important for the experience of the self. Thus far, studies on interoception have mainly focused on the ability to monitor the timing of ongoing heartbeats and on how these influence emotional and self-related processes. However, cardiac afferent signalling is not confined to heartbeat timing and several other cardiac parameters characterize cardiodynamic functioning. Building on the fact that each heart has its own self-specific cardio-dynamics, which cannot be expressed uniquely by heart rate, we devised a novel task to test whether people could recognize the sound of their own heart even when perceived offline and thus not in synchrony with ongoing heartbeats. In a forced-choice paradigm, participants discriminated between sounds of their own heartbeat (previously recorded with a Doppler device) versus another person’s heart. Participants identified the sound of their own heart above chance, whereas their metacognition of performance – as calculated by contrasting performance against ratings of confidence - was considerably poorer. These results suggest an implicit access to fine-grained neural representations of elementary cardio-dynamic parameters beyond heartbeat timing. PMID:27211283

The current standard for prenatal screening is mostly based on biochemical marker tests and the use of ultrasonography. There is no secure stand-alone screening marker for congenital heart defects (CHDs). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) that are associated with cardiogenesis enter the maternal peripheral bloodstream during pregnancy and allow non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). The present study investigated the plasma expression profile of fetal hsa-miR-99a in maternal blood. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 39 pregnant patients, comprising 22 with CHD-positive fetuses and 17 with CHD-free controls. miRNAs were isolated from the maternal serum and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was carried out to determine the expression of hsa-miR-99a. While the miRNA concentrations were almost identical among the affected and control groups (5.54 vs. 6.40 ng/µl), significantly upregulated hsa-miR-99a levels were identified in the affected group (1.78×10−2±3.53×10−2 vs. 1.09×10−3±3.55×10−3 ng/µl, P=0.038). In conclusion, according to the present study, hsa-miR-99a is involved in cardiac malformation and may serve as a biomarker during fetal development, and therefore presents as a candidate for monitoring cardiomyogenesis and potential use as a NIPT-biomarker for fetal CHD. PMID:26623032

A novel and versatile cardiothoracic phantom has been designed to study the biophysics of heart murmurs associated with aortic stenosis. The key features of the cardiothoracic phantom include the use of tissue-mimetic gel to model the sound transmission through the thorax and the embedded fluid circuit that is designed to mimic the heartsound mechanisms in large vessels with obstructions. The effect of the lungs on heart murmur propagation can also be studied through the insertion of lung-mimicking material into gel. Sounds on the surface of the phantom are measured using a variety of sensors and the spectrum of the recorded signal and the streamwise variation in total signal strength is recorded. Based on these results, we provide insights into the biophysics of heart murmurs and the effect of lungs on sound propagation through the thorax. Data from these experiments is also used to validate the results of a companion computational study. Authors want to acknowledge the financial supports for this study by SCH grant (IIS 1344772) from National Science Foundation.

We have developed a telemedicine system to monitor a patients electrocardiogram (ECG) and heartsounds (PCG) during daily activity. The complete system, consisting of an ECG recorder, an accelerometer and a 2.4 GHz low power mobile phone, is mounted on three chest sensing electrodes. The accelerometer records the PCG produced by closing of the mitral and aortic valves (S1 and S2). The sampled ECG and PCG are stored in the system for two minutes and continuously updated. When a patient feels heart discomfort such as angina or an arrhythmia, he/she pushes the data transmission switch on the system. The ECG and PCG for the next two minutes are stored in the system, and then the system then sends the four minutes of stored data directly to a hospital server computer via the 1.9 GHz low power mobile phone. These data are stored on the server and then downloaded to the physicians Java configured mobile phone. The physician can then check the patients cardiac condition, regardless of patient or physician locations, and then take appropriate actions.

Patterns of blood flow associated with abnormal heart conditions generate characteristic sounds that can be measured on the chest surface using a stethoscope. This technique of `cardiac auscultation' has been used effectively for over a hundred years to diagnose heart conditions, but the mechanisms that generate heartsounds, as well as the physics of sound transmission through the thorax, are not well understood. Here we present a new computational method for simulating the physics of heart murmur generation and transmission and use it to simulate the murmurs associated with a modeled aortic stenosis. The flow in the model aorta is simulated by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and the three-dimensional elastic wave generation and propagation on the surrounding viscoelastic structure are solved with a high-order finite difference method in the time domain. The simulation results are compared with experimental measurements and show good agreement. The present study confirms that the pressure fluctuations on the vessel wall are the source of these heart murmurs, and both compression and shear waves likely plan an important role in cardiac auscultation. Supported by the NSF Grants IOS-1124804 and IIS-1344772, Computational resource by XSEDE NSF grant TG-CTS100002.

Background Automatic detection of the 1st (S1) and 2nd (S2) heartsounds is difficult, and existing algorithms are imprecise. We sought to develop a wavelet-based algorithm for the detection of S1 and S2 in children with and without pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Method Heartsounds were recorded at the second left intercostal space and the cardiac apex with a digital stethoscope simultaneously with pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP). We developed a Daubechies wavelet algorithm for the automatic detection of S1 and S2 using the wavelet coefficient ‘D6’ based on power spectral analysis. We compared our algorithm with four other Daubechies wavelet-based algorithms published by Liang, Kumar, Wang, and Zhong. We annotated S1 and S2 from an audiovisual examination of the phonocardiographic tracing by two trained cardiologists and the observation that in all subjects systole was shorter than diastole. Results We studied 22 subjects (9 males and 13 females, median age 6 years, range 0.25–19). Eleven subjects had a mean PAP < 25 mmHg. Eleven subjects had PAH with a mean PAP ≥ 25 mmHg. All subjects had a pulmonary artery wedge pressure ≤ 15 mmHg. The sensitivity (SE) and positive predictivity (+P) of our algorithm were 70% and 68%, respectively. In comparison, the SE and +P of Liang were 59% and 42%, Kumar 19% and 12%, Wang 50% and 45%, and Zhong 43% and 53%, respectively. Our algorithm demonstrated robustness and outperformed the other methods up to a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 10 dB. For all algorithms, detection errors arose from low-amplitude peaks, fast heart rates, low signal-to-noise ratio, and fixed thresholds. Conclusion Our algorithm for the detection of S1 and S2 improves the performance of existing Daubechies-based algorithms and justifies the use of the wavelet coefficient ‘D6’ through power spectral analysis. Also, the robustness despite ambient noise may improve real world clinical performance. PMID:26629704

High speed enchocardiograms of the mitral, tricuspid, and pulmonary valves were recorded with a simultaneous electrocardiogram and phonocardiogram in 20 patients with complete right bundle-branch block and in 67 normal subjects. Late opening of the pulmonary valve indicating late right ventricular ejection was found in all patients. In 8 patients with wide splitting of the first heartsound the late ejection was related mainly to delay in tricuspid valve closure, suggesting a late onset of the right ventricular pressure pulse. In 10 patients with a single first heartsound the delayed ejection was associated with a long interval between tricuspid valve closure and pulmonary valve opening, suggesting a slow rising right ventricular pressure pulse; 3 of these patients also had late tricuspid valve closure but the tricuspid component of the first sound was absent. Late onset of pressure rise is thought to result from block in the main right bundle-branch, and a slow rising pulse from block in the distal Purkinje network. These findings explain the conflicting results in previous studies of the first heartsound and right ventricular pressure pulse in patients with right bundle-branch block, and may have prognostic significance. Images PMID:465238

Heartsound recordings were taken from cats. The heartsounds were recorded directly from the chest wall and through an esophageal tube. The phono transducer and the esophageal tube were both placed over the base of the heart. Ultrasound M-mode, or motion-mode, recordings were taken to study the mitral valve dynamics. After analogue to digital conversion, electrocardiogram gated first heartsounds of each phono record were analyzed by the fast Fourier transform to obtain a frequency spectrum. Relative energies in 15 Hz bandwidths up to 150 Hz were correlated with the mitral valve closing velocity of the anterior mitral leaflet, obtained from the M-mode echocardiograms. The closing velocity correlated best with the energy in the 30-45 Hz bandwidth and 60-75 Hz bandwidth for the externally and internally monitored phonocardiogram respectively. The chest wall acted as a low pass filter, that is, the wall favoured the transmission of low frequencies and the energy transmitted decreased as wall thickness increased.

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) arise through various combinations of genetic and environmental factors. Our study explores how polymorphisms in the glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes affect the association between cigarette smoke exposure and CHDs. We analysed 299 mothers of children with CHDs and 284 mothers of children without any abnormalities who were recruited from six hospitals. The hair nicotine concentration (HNC) was used to quantify maternal smoke exposure, and the maternal GSTT1, and GSTM1 and GSTP1 genes were sequenced. We found a trend of higher adjusted odds ratios with higher maternal HNC levels, suggesting a dose-response relationship between maternal smoke exposure and CHDs. The lowest HNC range associated with an increased risk of CHDs was 0.213–0.319 ng/mg among the mothers with functional deletions of GSTM1 or GSTT1and 0.319–0.573 ng/mg among the mothers with normal copies of GSTM1 and GSTT1. In addition, the adjusted odds ratio for an HNC of >0.573 ng/mg was 38.53 among the mothers with the GSTP1 AG or GG genotype, which was 7.76 (χ2 = 6.702, p = 0.010) times greater than the AOR in the mothers with GSTP1 AA genotype. Our study suggests that polymorphisms of maternal GST genes may modify the association of maternal smoke exposure with CHDs. PMID:26456689

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) arise through various combinations of genetic and environmental factors. Our study explores how polymorphisms in the glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes affect the association between cigarette smoke exposure and CHDs. We analysed 299 mothers of children with CHDs and 284 mothers of children without any abnormalities who were recruited from six hospitals. The hair nicotine concentration (HNC) was used to quantify maternal smoke exposure, and the maternal GSTT1, and GSTM1 and GSTP1 genes were sequenced. We found a trend of higher adjusted odds ratios with higher maternal HNC levels, suggesting a dose-response relationship between maternal smoke exposure and CHDs. The lowest HNC range associated with an increased risk of CHDs was 0.213-0.319 ng/mg among the mothers with functional deletions of GSTM1 or GSTT1and 0.319-0.573 ng/mg among the mothers with normal copies of GSTM1 and GSTT1. In addition, the adjusted odds ratio for an HNC of >0.573 ng/mg was 38.53 among the mothers with the GSTP1 AG or GG genotype, which was 7.76 (χ(2) = 6.702, p = 0.010) times greater than the AOR in the mothers with GSTP1 AA genotype. Our study suggests that polymorphisms of maternal GST genes may modify the association of maternal smoke exposure with CHDs.

Mobile phones, due to their audio processing capabilities, have the potential to facilitate the diagnosis of heart disease through automated auscultation. However, such a platform is likely to be used by non-experts, and hence, it is essential that such a device is able to automatically differentiate poor quality from diagnostically useful recordings since non-experts are more likely to make poor-quality recordings. This paper investigates the automated signal quality assessment of heartsound recordings performed using both mobile phone-based and commercial medical-grade electronic stethoscopes. The recordings, each 60 s long, were taken from 151 random adult individuals with varying diagnoses referred to a cardiac clinic and were professionally annotated by five experts. A mean voting procedure was used to compute a final quality label for each recording. Nine signal quality indices were defined and calculated for each recording. A logistic regression model for classifying binary quality was then trained and tested. The inter-rater agreement level for the stethoscope and mobile phone recordings was measured using Conger's kappa for multiclass sets and found to be 0.24 and 0.54, respectively. One-third of all the mobile phone-recorded phonocardiogram (PCG) signals were found to be of sufficient quality for analysis. The classifier was able to distinguish good- and poor-quality mobile phone recordings with 82.2% accuracy, and those made with the electronic stethoscope with an accuracy of 86.5%. We conclude that our classification approach provides a mechanism for substantially improving auscultation recordings by non-experts. This work is the first systematic evaluation of a PCG signal quality classification algorithm (using a separate test dataset) and assessment of the quality of PCG recordings captured by non-experts, using both a medical-grade digital stethoscope and a mobile phone.

To investigate the predisposing factors and the clinical significance of the musical aortic component of the second heartsound (musical S2), 18 patients with musical S2 (musical group) among the consecutive 2,000 patients with phonocardiographic examination were noninvasively studied by analyzing underlying diseases, phonocardiographic findings, organic changes of the aortic valve, severity of aortic regurgitation and left ventricular dysfunction. Organic changes of the aortic valve were assessed by two-dimensional echocardiography, and aortic regurgitation was assessed by color Doppler flow imaging. Twenty-two normal subjects (normal group) and 17 patients with essential hypertension (hypertensive group) served as controls. Mean ages were matched among the three groups. 1. Left ventricular dilatation (seven patients) and hypertension (six patients) were the dominant part of underlying disease in the musical group. 2. Musical S2 was classified in the following two types based on the phonocardiographic characteristics; musical vibrations followed immediately after the accentuated S2, and the S2 which was replaced by regular vibratory waves. 3. Frequency of the musical vibrations ranged from 120 to 200 Hz, and its duration ranged from 60 to 120 msec. Amplitude of the musical vibrations decreased by inhalation of amyl nitrite, but increased by infusion of methoxamine. In a case with mild rheumatic valve disease, methoxamine induced marked intensification of the amplitude and prolongation of the duration of the musical vibrations, finally giving a typical cooing murmur. 4. Echo intensity of the aortic valve tended to be higher in the musical group than in the other two groups. 5. Echocardiographically, aortic regurgitation appeared more frequently in the musical group (88%) than in the normal (36%) and hypertensive (41%) groups. Area of the aortic regurgitant signal was significantly larger in the musical group (4.1 +/- 1.4 cm2) than in the normal (1.2 +/- 0.8 cm2

Hair arsenic and cadmium from 339 women with congenital heart defect (CHD)-affected pregnancies (case women) and 333 women with normal live births (control women) in China were estimated using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The median levels of hair arsenic and cadmium in the case women were 98.30 (74.30-136.30)ng/g and 14.60 (8.30-32.50)ng/g, respectively, which were significantly higher than the levels in the control group (P<0.05). Arsenic concentrations ≥62.03ng/g were associated with increased risk for almost every CHD subtype, with a dose-response relationship. However, only the group with the highest cadmium levels (≥25.85ng/g) displayed an increased risk of CHDs (AOR 1.96; 95% CI 1.24-3.09), with a 2.81-fold increase found for the occurrence of conotruncal defects in their offspring. Furthermore, an interaction between arsenic and cadmium was observed. Our findings suggest that maternal exposure to arsenic and cadmium may be a significant risk factor for CHDs in offspring. Cadmium may have an enhancing effect on the association between arsenic and the risk of CHDs in offspring.

Background: Opium is one of the most commonly abused opiates in developing countries including Iran. Considering the importance of maternal health on the newborn, we aimed to assess the effect of opium abuse on fetal heart rate (FHR) characteristics in a sample of pregnant women in Zahedan, Southeast Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 100 pregnant women referring to Ali-Ibn-Abi Talib Hospital in Zahedan, during 2011-2013. The participants were divided into two groups comprising of opium abusers and healthy individuals. The participants received 500cc intravenous fluid containing dextrose and then non-stress test results were recorded for 20 minutes. Results: We found no significant difference between the two groups with respect to their demographic characteristics. Fetal movements, variability, acceleration, and reactivity were significantly higher among addicted women (P<0.0001 for all). Periodic change was 9.8 times higher among opium abusers compared with the healthy women. Abnormal variability or oscillations of <15 beats/min, which indicates lack of beat-to-beat variability, was significantly higher in the fetuses of addicted mothers (P<0.0001). Conclusion: Considering significant abnormal patterns in FHR characteristics among the opium abuser group, mothers addicted to opium need specific prenatal care. PMID:27853327

Background: Relaxation-training, as an anxiety-reducer intervention, plays an important role in fetal health. The present study aimed to analyze the effect of maternal relaxation on stress test (NST), basal fetal heart rate, and number of fetal heart accelerations. Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, 84 pregnant women were randomly divided into two groups of teaching relaxation and control groups in 2012. In the intervention group, 60-90 minute classes were held every week lasting for 4 weeks. Besides, home practice charts were given to the mothers and researchers controlled the home practices by phone calls every week. The control group received routine prenatal care. In the 4th week, NST was performed in the intervention group 30 minutes before and after the 4th session. In the control group, NST was done in the 4th week. The quantitative variables in the two groups were compared through ANOVA and Chi-square test. Results: The results of paired t-test showed that relaxation could improve the NST results (P=0.01). Mean and standard deviation of basal fetal heart rate was 138.95±8.18 before the intervention and 133.07±6.9 after the intervention. Paired t-test also showed that relaxation reduced the basal fetal heart rate (P=0.001). Mean and standard deviation of the number of fetal heart accelerations was 1.5±0.8 before the intervention and 2.2±0.9 after it. The results of paired t-test also showed that relaxation increased the number of fetal heart accelerations (P=0.001). Conclusions: Relaxation could improve the NST results, reduce the basal fetal heart rate, and increase the number of fetal heart accelerations. Therefore, relaxation is recommended during pregnancy. Trial Registration Number: IRCT2012072810418N1 PMID:25553334

Maternal hypertension is common during pregnancy, and multiple studies have reported on an association between maternal hypertension and congenital heart defects (CHDs) in offspring; however, there is variability in the quality of these studies. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on the associations between untreated and treated maternal hypertension and the risk of CHDs, evaluating CHDs overall as well as specific CHD subtypes. A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles published before August 2013 identified 16 studies evaluating the associations between untreated and treated maternal hypertension and CHDs. Summary relative risk (RR) estimates were calculated using fixed-effects models and random-effects models. Significant associations were observed between maternal hypertension and overall CHDs, for both treated [RR 2.0; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.5, 2.7] and untreated (RR 1.4; 95 % CI 1.2, 1.7) hypertension, as well as for overall hypertension regardless of treatment status (RR 1.8; 95 % CI 1.5, 2.2). The magnitude of effect was similar for the majority of CHD subtypes evaluated. The effects were also similar among women with hypertension who used one of multiple specific hypertension medications. There was no evidence of publication bias, and our results were robust to several factors considered in sensitivity analyses (e.g., source of exposure data, adjustment for potential confounders, and study design). Maternal hypertension was associated with CHDs. By understanding the specific mechanisms involved, appropriate strategies may be developed to reduce this risk, in order to prevent CHDs.

To understand the mechanisms those are involved in the appearance of foetal heart rate decelerations (FHR) after the combined epidural analgesia in labour. Observational study done at University Hospital for 86-term singleton pregnant women with spontaneous labour. Serial bedside measurement of the main cardiac maternal parameters with USCOM technique; stroke volume (SV), heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO) and total vascular resistances (TVR) inputting systolic and diastolic blood pressure before combined epidural analgesia and after 5', 10', 15' and 20 min. FHR was continuously recorded though cardiotocography before and after the procedure. Correlation between the appearance of foetal heart rate decelerations and the modification of maternal haemodynamic parameters. Fourteen out of 86 foetuses showed decelerations after the combined spino epidural procedure. No decelerations occurred in the women with low TVR (<1000 dyne/s/cm(-5)) at the basal evaluation. FHR abnormalities were concentrated in 39 women who presented elevated TVR values at the basal evaluation (>1200 dyne/s/cm(-5)). Soon after the epidural procedure, the absence of increase in SV and CO was observed in these women. No variations in systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were found. The level of TVR before combined epidural analgesia in labour may indicate the risk of FHR abnormalities after the procedure. Low TVR (<1000 dyne/s/cm(-5)) showed a reduced risk of FHR abnormalities. FHR decelerations seem to occur in women without the ability to upregulate SV and CO in response to the initial effects of analgesia.

Terbutaline is used to treat fetal bradycardia in the setting of complete heart block (CHB); however, little is known of its effects on atrial and ventricular beat rates or patterns of heart rate (HR) acceleration. Fetal atrial and ventricular beat rates were compared before and after transplacental terbutaline treatment (10 to 30 mg/day) by fetal echocardiography in 17 fetuses with CHB caused by immune-mediated damage to a normal conduction system (isoimmune, n = 8) or a congenitally malformed conduction system associated with left atrial isomerism (LAI, n = 9). While receiving terbutaline, 9 of the 17 fetuses underwent fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG) to assess maternal HR and rhythm, patterns of fetal HR acceleration, and correlation between fetal atrial and ventricular accelerations (i.e., AV correlation). Maternal HR and fetal atrial and ventricular beat rates increased with terbutaline. However, terbutaline's effects were greater on the atrial pacemaker(s) in fetuses with isoimmune CHB and greater on the ventricular pacemaker(s) in those with LAI-associated CHB. Patterns of fetal HR acceleration also differed between isoimmune and LAI CHB. Finally, despite increasing HR, terbutaline did not restore the normal coordinated response between atrial and ventricular accelerations in isoimmune or LAI CHB. In conclusion, the pathophysiologic heterogeneity of CHB is reflected in the differing effect of terbutaline on the atrial and ventricular pacemaker(s) and varying patterns of HR acceleration. However, regardless of the cause of CHB, terbutaline augments HR but not AV correlation, suggesting that its effects are determined by the conduction system defect rather than the autonomic control of the developing heart.

Background Oxidative stress is manifested in embryos exposed to maternal diabetes, yet specific mechanisms for diabetes-induced heart defects are not defined. Gene deletion of intermediates of Wingless-related integration (Wnt) signaling causes heart defects similar to those observed in embryos from diabetic pregnancies. We tested the hypothesis that diabetes-induced oxidative stress impairs Wnt signaling thereby causing heart defects, and that these defects can be rescued by transgenic overexpression of the reactive oxygen species scavenger SOD1. Methods and Results Wild-type (WT) and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) overexpressing embryos from nondiabetic WT control dams and nondiabetic/diabetic WT female mice mated with SOD1 transgenic male mice were analyzed. No heart defects were observed in WT and SOD1 embryos under nondiabetic conditions. WT embryos of diabetic dams had a 26% incidence of cardiac outlet defects that were suppressed by SOD1 overexpression. Insulin treatment reduced blood glucose levels and heart defects. Diabetes increased superoxide production, canonical Wnt antagonist expression, caspase activation, and apoptosis, and suppressed cell proliferation. Diabetes suppressed Wnt signaling intermediates and Wnt target gene expression in the embryonic heart, each of which were reversed by SOD1 overexpression. Hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite mimicked the inhibitory effect of high glucose on Wnt signaling, which was abolished by the SOD1 mimetic, tempol. Conclusions The oxidative stress of diabetes impairs Wnt signaling and causes cardiac outlet defects that are rescued by SOD1 overexpression. This suggests that targeting of components of the Wnt5a signaling pathway may be a viable strategy for suppression of CHDs in fetuses of diabetic pregnancies. PMID:26232087

Mode of the splitting of the second heartsound ( IIs ) and left ventricular systolic time intervals (STIs) in patients (pts) with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were compared with those in hypertension (HT) with the global hypertrophy of the left ventricular wall. Forty-seven pts with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy [non-obstructive type (HCM, 30 pts), obstructive type (HOCM, 17 pts)] and 21 pts with HT were studied. The pts with HCM were classified as septal hypertrophic type (19 pts) and apical hypertrophic type (11 pts) on the basis of the echocardiographic findings. The pts with HOCM were classified as resting type (13 pts) and latent type (provoked by amyl nitrite: 4 pts) on the basis of the obstructive sign at rest. Mode of the splitting of the IIs : a) The pts with HCM showed a wide splitting of the IIs . The mean split interval during held expiration (IIA-IIP) was 41.0 +/- 9.9 msec. Twenty pts (67%) showed abnormal respiratory splitting. The mean IIA-IIP interval in septal hypertrophic type (45.3 +/- 9.0 msec) was significantly wider than that in apical hypertrophic type (33.6 +/- 6.7 msec) (p less than 0.05). There was a positive correlation between IIA-IIP interval and the thickness of the upper portion of the interventricular septum (r = 0.63). b) Nine out of 13 pts with resting type of HOCM showed a paradoxical (reversed) splitting with a mean IIA-IIP interval of -23.8 +/- 24.4 msec. On the other hand, pts with latent type showed a wide splitting similar to HCM with a mean IIA-IIP interval of 35.0 +/- 7.1 msec. c) The pts with HT showed a single IIs or physiological splitting. The mean IIA-IIP interval was 14.5 +/- 9.3 msec, which was significantly decreased than that of normals or the pts with HCM (p less than 0.01). Left ventricular systolic time intervals: a) The pts with an either type of HCM showed a short corrected left ventricular electromechanical systole [(Q-IIA)c] due to the shortening of the corrected left ventricular ejection time (LVETc). b) The

Background: Epidemiologic literature suggests that exposure to air pollutants is associated with fetal development. Objectives: We investigated maternal exposures to air pollutants during weeks 2–8 of pregnancy and their associations with congenital heart defects. Methods: Mothers from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a nine-state case–control study, were assigned 1-week and 7-week averages of daily maximum concentrations of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and sulfur dioxide and 24-hr measurements of fine and coarse particulate matter using the closest air monitor within 50 km to their residence during early pregnancy. Depending on the pollutant, a maximum of 4,632 live-birth controls and 3,328 live-birth, fetal-death, or electively terminated cases had exposure data. Hierarchical regression models, adjusted for maternal demographics and tobacco and alcohol use, were constructed. Principal component analysis was used to assess these relationships in a multipollutant context. Results: Positive associations were observed between exposure to nitrogen dioxide and coarctation of the aorta and pulmonary valve stenosis. Exposure to fine particulate matter was positively associated with hypoplastic left heart syndrome but inversely associated with atrial septal defects. Examining individual exposure-weeks suggested associations between pollutants and defects that were not observed using the 7-week average. Associations between left ventricular outflow tract obstructions and nitrogen dioxide and between hypoplastic left heart syndrome and particulate matter were supported by findings from the multipollutant analyses, although estimates were attenuated at the highest exposure levels. Conclusions: Using daily maximum pollutant levels and exploring individual exposure-weeks revealed some positive associations between certain pollutants and defects and suggested potential windows of susceptibility during pregnancy. Citation: Stingone JA, Luben TJ

Physical prowess is associated with rapid recovery from exhaustion. Here we examined whether recovery from aerobic exercise could be manipulated with a rhythmic sound pattern that either decreased or increased in tempo. Six men and six women exercised repeatedly for six minutes on a cycle ergometer at 60 percent of their individual maximal oxygen consumption, and then relaxed for six minutes while listening to one of two sound pattern conditions, which seemed to infinitely either decrease or increase in tempo, during which heart and breathing activity was measured. Participants exhibited more high-frequent heart rate variability when listening to decreasing tempo than when listening to increasing tempo, accompanied by a non-significant trend towards lower heart rate. The results show that neuropsychological entrainment to a sound pattern may directly affect the autonomic nervous system, which in turn may facilitate physiological recovery after exercise. Applications using rhythmic entrainment to aid physical recovery are discussed. PMID:25285076

Background: Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world, even during pregnancy. Its stimulatory effects are mainly due to antagonism of adenosine actions by blocking adenosine A1 and A2A receptors. Previous studies have shown that caffeine can cross the placenta and therefore modulate these receptors not only in the fetal brain but also in the heart. Methods: In the present work, the effect of caffeine chronically consumed during pregnancy on A1 and A2A receptors in Wistar rat heart, from both mothers and their fetuses, were studied using radioligand binding, Western-blotting, and adenylyl cyclase activity assays, as well as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: Caffeine did not significantly alter A1R neither at protein nor at gene expression level in both the maternal and fetal heart. On the contrary, A2AR significantly decreased in the maternalheart, although mRNA was not affected. Gi and Gs proteins were also preserved. Finally, A1R-mediated inhibition of adenylyl cyclase activity did not change in the maternalheart, but A2AR mediated stimulation of this enzymatic activity significantly decreased according to the detected loss of this receptor. Conclusions: Opposite to the downregulation and desensitization of the A1R/AC pathway previously reported in the brain, these results show that this pathway is not affected in rat heart after caffeine exposure during pregnancy. In addition, A2AR is downregulated and desensitized in the maternalheart, suggesting a differential modulation of these receptor-mediated pathways by caffeine.

Background: Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world, even during pregnancy. Its stimulatory effects are mainly due to antagonism of adenosine actions by blocking adenosine A1 and A2A receptors. Previous studies have shown that caffeine can cross the placenta and therefore modulate these receptors not only in the fetal brain but also in the heart. Methods: In the present work, the effect of caffeine chronically consumed during pregnancy on A1 and A2A receptors in Wistar rat heart, from both mothers and their fetuses, were studied using radioligand binding, Western-blotting, and adenylyl cyclase activity assays, as well as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: Caffeine did not significantly alter A1R neither at protein nor at gene expression level in both the maternal and fetal heart. On the contrary, A2AR significantly decreased in the maternalheart, although mRNA was not affected. Gi and Gs proteins were also preserved. Finally, A1R-mediated inhibition of adenylyl cyclase activity did not change in the maternalheart, but A2AR mediated stimulation of this enzymatic activity significantly decreased according to the detected loss of this receptor. Conclusions: Opposite to the downregulation and desensitization of the A1R/AC pathway previously reported in the brain, these results show that this pathway is not affected in rat heart after caffeine exposure during pregnancy. In addition, A2AR is downregulated and desensitized in the maternalheart, suggesting a differential modulation of these receptor-mediated pathways by caffeine. PMID:25538864

In the last decade, an increasing number of cardiac conditions have been shown to have a genetic basis. Cardiovascular genetic counseling has emerged as a subspecialty aiming to identify unaffected at-risk individuals. An important sector of this at-risk population also includes expectant mothers, in whom unique clinical challenges may arise. Genetic counselors, especially those in cardiovascular and prenatal settings, have an opportunity to identify and assist women who may benefit from cardiovascular care during pregnancy. This paper provides basic management and genetic evaluation principles for affected women, as well as guidance on identifying those who are at risk. We provide considerations for cardiac surveillance in pregnancy and the post-partum period. Finally, key psychosocial issues that appraise how to best provide support to at risk women as they make informed decisions are discussed. We propose that a team approach including cardiology, maternal fetal medicine, and genetic counseling best serves this patient population. Ongoing questions addressing an evidence based approach to cardiovascular genetic conditions in pregnancy still remain. Thus, well-designed research protocols are essential to mark progress in this area.

This study aimed to examine the knowledge of mothers of children with congenital heart disease as well as the association of cardiological factors and maternal characteristics with maternal understanding. Mothers of 135 children (≤2 years old) were interviewed to assess maternal knowledge of infective endocarditis (IE) using the Hannover Inventory of Parental Knowledge of Congenital Heart Disease. Two subscales, endocarditis and risk factors, were used. Cardiological data as well as maternal characteristics were collected. Two-thirds of the mothers achieved only low scores, answering 0-20 % of the questions correctly (endocarditis = 64.4 %; risk factors = 71.1 %). Mothers with higher education recalled the correct definition of IE (P = 0.001) and the importance of dental hygiene (P = 0.004) more often. Mothers with only one child were more likely to know the most typical symptom (P = 0.007). The severity of the heart disease and the requirement of endocarditis prophylaxis did not influence maternal understanding. Yet, mothers assessing the heart disease as severe showed better knowledge (typical symptom P = 0.021; importance of dental hygiene P = 0.007). If mothers learned the diagnosis before their child's birth, they remembered relevant information more often. Mothers receiving information by the medical staff and from the Internet showed better knowledge (definition P = 0.014; importance of dental hygiene P = 0.001). Due to low levels of knowledge, more efforts must be put into the education of mothers. Educational programs should take maternal characteristics into account, providing written material and thereby keeping the instruction of lower-educated persons in mind. Furthermore, education should be focused on mothers of children requiring IE prophylaxis.

This study designed an audio signal acquisition system to achieve real-time detection of R peak for heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, substituting ECG-specific data acquisition board with sound card. It is proved that the R peak with low frequency can be gathered by sound card. The comparison with PowerLab signal acquisition system has shown that the acquisition system of R peak could accurately detect the R peak. The R peak detected by sound card and PowerLab signal acquisition system completely overlap each other, while RR intervals has no difference. The HRV analysis was accurate and reliable with the RR interval from sound card. This low cost, high performance, strong compatibility and easy upgraded acquisition system of R peak compared with the traditional data acquisition board has the value of practical uses and might have broad applications in the future.

Using a computerised analysis, the cardiotocograph (CTG) from women who use methadone (n= 25) when compared with women who do not use methadone (n= 25) showed a significant reduction in the fetal heart baseline rate, with a significant reduction in number of accelerations and episodes of high variation. The short-term variation, number of decelerations and episodes of low variation were not different between the two groups. The time taken to meet the standardised criteria was not different, and it is possible that a computer-assisted CTG analysis could be more accurate than a naked eye interpretation.

We have previously shown in sheep that 10 days of modest chronic increase in maternal cortisol resulting from maternal infusion of cortisol (1 mg/kg/day) caused fetal heart enlargement and Purkinje cell apoptosis. In subsequent studies we extended the cortisol infusion to term, finding a dramatic incidence of stillbirth in the pregnancies with chronically increased cortisol. To investigate effects of maternal cortisol on the heart, we performed transcriptomic analyses on the septa using ovine microarrays and Webgestalt and Cytoscape programs for pathway inference. Analyses of the transcriptomic effects of maternal cortisol infusion for 10 days (130 day cortisol vs 130 day control), or ∼25 days (140 day cortisol vs 140 day control) and of normal maturation (140 day control vs 130 day control) were performed. Gene ontology terms related to immune function and cytokine actions were significantly overrepresented as genes altered by both cortisol and maturation in the septa. After 10 days of cortisol, growth factor and muscle cell apoptosis pathways were significantly overrepresented, consistent with our previous histologic findings. In the term fetuses (∼25 days of cortisol) nutrient pathways were significantly overrepresented, consistent with altered metabolism and reduced mitochondria. Analysis of mitochondrial number by mitochondrial DNA expression confirmed a significant decrease in mitochondria. The metabolic pathways modeled as altered by cortisol treatment to term were different from those modeled during maturation of the heart to term, and thus changes in gene expression in these metabolic pathways may be indicative of the fetal heart pathophysiologies seen in pregnancies complicated by stillbirth, including gestational diabetes, Cushing's disease and chronic stress.

We have previously shown in sheep that 10 days of modest chronic increase in maternal cortisol resulting from maternal infusion of cortisol (1 mg/kg/day) caused fetal heart enlargement and Purkinje cell apoptosis. In subsequent studies we extended the cortisol infusion to term, finding a dramatic incidence of stillbirth in the pregnancies with chronically increased cortisol. To investigate effects of maternal cortisol on the heart, we performed transcriptomic analyses on the septa using ovine microarrays and Webgestalt and Cytoscape programs for pathway inference. Analyses of the transcriptomic effects of maternal cortisol infusion for 10 days (130 day cortisol vs 130 day control), or ∼25 days (140 day cortisol vs 140 day control) and of normal maturation (140 day control vs 130 day control) were performed. Gene ontology terms related to immune function and cytokine actions were significantly overrepresented as genes altered by both cortisol and maturation in the septa. After 10 days of cortisol, growth factor and muscle cell apoptosis pathways were significantly overrepresented, consistent with our previous histologic findings. In the term fetuses (∼25 days of cortisol) nutrient pathways were significantly overrepresented, consistent with altered metabolism and reduced mitochondria. Analysis of mitochondrial number by mitochondrial DNA expression confirmed a significant decrease in mitochondria. The metabolic pathways modeled as altered by cortisol treatment to term were different from those modeled during maturation of the heart to term, and thus changes in gene expression in these metabolic pathways may be indicative of the fetal heart pathophysiologies seen in pregnancies complicated by stillbirth, including gestational diabetes, Cushing's disease and chronic stress. PMID:24867915

Epidemiological studies have reported conflicting results regarding the association between maternal folic acid supplementation and the risk of congenital heart defects (CHDs). However, a meta-analysis of the association between maternal folic acid supplementation and CHDs in offspring has not been conducted. We searched the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases for articles cataloged between their inceptions and October 10, 2014 and identified relevant published studies that assessed the association between maternal folate supplementation and the risk of CHDs. Study-specific relative risk estimates were pooled using random-effects or fixed-effects models. Out of the 1,606 articles found in our initial literature searches, a total of 1 randomized controlled trial, 1 cohort study, and 16 case-control studies were included in our final meta-analysis. The overall results of this meta-analysis provide evidence that maternal folate supplementation is associated with a significantly decreased risk of CHDs (RR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.63-0.82). Statistically significant heterogeneity was detected (Q = 82.48, P < 0.001, I2 = 79.4%). We conducted stratified and meta-regression analyses to identify the origin of the heterogeneity among the studies, and a Galbraith plot was generated to graphically assess the sources of heterogeneity. This meta-analysis provides a robust estimate of the positive association between maternal folate supplementation and a decreased risk of CHDs.

Zinc has been implicated to have a protective role against heart malformations during fetal development. Metallothionein 1 (MT-1) and zinc transporter 1 (ZnT-1) are two major metabolic factors that are associated with zinc metabolism. The present work aimed to investigate the association of placental MT-1 and ZnT-1 expressions with fetal heart malformations resulting from maternal zinc deficiency. Sprague-Dawley female rats were randomly divided into five groups of extremely low-zinc, low-zinc, moderately low-zinc, marginally low-zinc and normal zinc (n = 9-12), and were fed diets with controlled zinc content at 1.0 ± 0.3, 8.4 ± 1.8, 15.4 ± 2.8, 22.4 ± 4.1 and 29.4 ± 5.3 [mean ± standard deviation (SD)] mg of zinc/kg, respectively, from day 25 of preconception until day 19 of gestation. The female rats were bred, their fetuses were harvested at day 19 of gestation after killing the dams, and fetal hearts were morphologically examined. Zinc concentration and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in maternal venous blood sera were tested, and MT-1 and ZnT-1 mRNA expressions in the placenta were assayed. Zinc concentrations and ALP activities in the blood were low in all zinc-deficient diet groups in a dose-dependent fashion. The incidences of heart malformations were increased, and the levels of placental MT-1 and ZnT-1 mRNA expressions were decreased in the extremely low-zinc, low-zinc and moderately low-zinc groups compared with the normal zinc group. Specifically, mRNA levels of placental MT-1 or ZnT-1 were significantly decreased and were lower than the specific threshold values in the fetuses with heart malformations but not in the fetuses without heart malformations in all the groups. These data indicate that maternal zinc deficiency resulted in an elevated incidence of fetal heart malformations, which was associated with significant decreases in placental MT-1 and ZnT-1 mRNA expressions to the levels below the threshold values that may be a

Objective To examine the relation between congenital heart defects (CHDs) in offspring and estimated maternal occupational exposure to chlorinated solvents, aromatic solvents, and Stoddard solvent during the period from one month before conception through the first trimester. Methods The study population included mothers of infants with simple, isolated CHDs and mothers of control infants who delivered from 1997 through 2002 and participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Two methods to assess occupational solvent exposure were employed: an expert consensus-based approach and a literature-based approach. Multiple logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between solvent classes and CHDs. Results 2,951 control mothers and 2,047 CHD case mothers were included. Using the consensus-based approach, associations were observed for exposure to any solvent and any chlorinated solvent with perimembranous ventricular septal defects (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.0 to 2.6 and OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.0 to 2.8 respectively). Using the literature-based approach, associations were observed for: any solvent exposure with aortic stenosis (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.1); and Stoddard solvent exposure with d-transposition of the great arteries (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.0 to 4.2), right ventricular outflow tract obstruction defects (OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.1 to 3.3), and pulmonary valve stenosis (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.1 to 3.8). Conclusions We found evidence of associations between occupational exposure to solvents and several types of CHDs. These results should be interpreted in light of the potential for misclassification of exposure. PMID:22811060

Early diagnosis of the malfunction of a mechanical artificial heart implanted in a patient who has been discharged from hospital is very important. We have developed an electro-stethoscope system that enables the malfunction of an artificial heart to be detected from the analysis of sound signals from the artificial heart. The sound data can be transmitted to a hospital via a mobile telephone or the Internet, so that doctors can examine the condition of the artificial heart. The optimum frequency characteristics of a low-pass filter for the elimination of ambient sound through the electro-stethoscope casing were obtained by simulating sound transmission through tissue. We evaluated the usefulness of the electro-stethoscope system using a goat in which an undulation pump total artificial heart had been implanted. A frequency analysis of the sound signal provided information on the degree of degradation of each mechanical component of the artificial heart. The results of this study showed that the electro-stethoscope system is useful for the early detection of the malfunction of an artificial heart at home, and that the use of the system contributes to improvement in the quality of life of patients.

Background Epidemiological studies have reported conflicting results regarding maternal parity and the risk of congenital heart defects (CHDs). However, a meta-analysis of the association between maternal parity and CHDs in offspring has not been conducted. Methods We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for articles catalogued between their inception and March 8, 2014; we identified relevant published studies that assessed the association between maternal parity and CHD risk. Two authors independently assessed the eligibility of the retrieved articles and extracted data from them. Study-specific relative risk estimates were pooled by random-effects or fixed-effects models. From the 11272 references, a total of 16 case-control studies and 3 cohort studies were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Results The overall relative risk of CHD in parous versus nulliparous women was 1.01 (95% CI, 0.97–1.06; Q = 32.34; P = 0.006; I2 = 53.6%). Furthermore, we observed a significant association between the highest versus lowest parity number, with an overall RR = 1.20 (95% CI, 1.10–1.31; (Q = 74.61, P<0.001, I2 = 82.6%). A dose–response analysis also indicated a positive effect of maternal parity on CHD risk, and the overall increase in relative risk per one live birth was 1.06 (95% CI, 1.02–1.09); Q = 68.09; P<0.001; I2 = 80.9%). We conducted stratified and meta-regression analyses to identify the origin of the heterogeneity among studies. A Galbraith plot was created to graphically assess the sources of heterogeneity. Conclusion In summary, this meta-analysis provided a robust estimate of the positive association between maternal parity and risk of CHD. PMID:25295723

Past epidemiologic studies suggest maternal ambient air pollution exposure during critical periods of the pregnancy is associated with fetal development. We introduce a multinomial probit model that allows for the joint identification of susceptible daily periods during the pregn...

Psychological disturbances, including anxiety and depression, are common during human pregnancy. Our objective was to determine whether these maternal disturbances influence cardiovascular responses of the offspring. The psychological status of 231 pregnant women was determined. Offspring (216) of these women were subsequently exposed to a video challenge stress when aged 7-9 years. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) of the children were determined at rest, in response to video stress and during subsequent recovery. Children's resting and stress-induced increases in HR (bpm), systolic (SBP, mm Hg) and diastolic (DBP, mm Hg) BP were all greater in children whose mothers reported anxiety during pregnancy. Values (mean±s.d.) for resting HR, SBP and DBP were 75.15±5.87, 95.37±2.72 and 66.39±4.74 for children whose mothers reported no anxiety and an average of 81.62±6.71, 97.26±2.90 and 68.86±2.82 for children whose mothers reported anxiety at any level. Respective values for stress-induced increments in HR, SBP and DBP were 14.83.±2.14, 16.41±1.97 and 12.72±2.69 for children whose mothers reported no anxiety and 17.95±3.46, 18.74±2.46 and 14.86±2.02 for children whose mothers reported any level of anxiety. Effects of maternal depression were less consistent. The effects of maternal anxiety remained in multivariate analyses, which also included children's birth weight. The results indicate a long-term influence of maternal psychological status during pregnancy on the cardiovascular responses to stress among offspring. These effects may contribute to prenatal influences on subsequent health of the offspring.

The congenital heart disease includes abnormalities in heart structure that occur before birth. Such defects occur in the fetus while it is developing in the uterus during pregnancy. About 500,000 adults have congenital heart disease in USA (WebMD, Congenital heart defects medications, www.WebMD.com/heart-disease/tc/congenital-heart-defects-medications , 2014). 1 in every 100 children has defects in their heart due to genetic or chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down syndrome. The excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy and use of medications, maternal viral infection, such as Rubella virus, measles (German), in the first trimester of pregnancy, all these are risk factors for congenital heart disease in children, and the risk increases if parent or sibling has a congenital heart defect. These are heart valves defects, atrial and ventricular septa defects, stenosis, the heart muscle abnormalities, and a hole inside wall of the heart which causes defect in blood circulation, heart failure, and eventual death. There are no particular symptoms of congenital heart disease, but shortness of breath and limited ability to do exercise, fatigue, abnormal sound of heart as heart murmur, which is diagnosed by a physician while listening to the heart beats. The echocardiogram or transesophageal echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, cardiac catheterization, and MRI methods are used to detect congenital heart disease. Several medications are given depending on the severity of this disease, and catheter method and surgery are required for serious cases to repair heart valves or heart transplantation as in endocarditis. For genetic study, first DNA is extracted from blood followed by DNA sequence analysis and any defect in nucleotide sequence of DNA is determined. For congenital heart disease, genes in chromosome 1 show some defects in nucleotide sequence. In this review the causes, diagnosis, symptoms, and treatments of congenital heart disease are described.

Background Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most prevalent birth defects. Housing renovations are a newly recognized source of indoor environmental pollution that is detrimental to health. A growing body of research suggests that maternal occupational exposure to renovation materials may be associated with an increased risk of giving birth to fetuses with CHD. However, the effect of indoor housing renovation exposure on CHD occurrence has not been reported. Methods A multi-hospital case–control study was designed to investigate the association between maternal periconceptional housing renovation exposure and the risk of CHD for offspring. In total, 346 cases and 408 controls were enrolled in this study from four hospitals in China. Exposure information was based on a questionnaire given to women during pregnancy. The association between housing renovation exposure and CHD occurrence was assessed by estimating odds ratios (OR) with logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders. Results The risk for CHD in offspring was significantly associated with maternal exposure to housing renovations (AOR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.29-2.77). There were similar risks for cardiac defects with or without extra-cardiac malformation (AOR of 2.65 and 1.76, respectively). Maternal housing renovation exposure may increase the fetus’ risk of suffering from conotruncal defect or anomalous venous return. There were significant risks for cardiac defects if the pregnant woman moved into a new house within one month after decoration at either 3 months before pregnancy (AOR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.03 to 5.48) or during first trimester (AOR: 4.00, 95% CI: 1.62 to 9.86). Conclusions Maternal exposure to housing renovations may have an increased risk of giving birth to fetuses with some selected types of CHD. This relationship was stronger for women who moved into a newly decorated house. However, considering the limited number of subjects and the problem of multiple exposures

The objective ot this study was to investigate whether lymphatic markers measured in women during the second trimester are associated with critical congenital heart defects (CCHDs) in offspring. This is a retrospective cohort study of pregnant women who participated in the California Prenatal Screening Program. CCHD data in the offspring was captured by linking birth certificate data with hospital patient discharge records. Second trimester samples were assayed for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) AA/BB, and PDGF AB. Logistic models were used to evaluate the association between lymphatic biomarkers and CCHD. Models were adjusted for other serum biomarkers and maternal characteristics. Results are presented in odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We identified 93 cases with CCHDs and 194 controls without CCHDs. The crude and adjusted OR for log (ln) VEGF was 1.07 (95%CI 0.94-1.22) and 1.08 (95%CI 0.94-1.24), respectively; for ln PDGF AB/BB was 0.93 (95%CI 0.6-1.35) and 0.58 (95%CI 0.32-1.05), respectively. There was a significant association between ln PDFG AA and CCHDs (crude OR 1.83 (95%CI 1.05-3.2); adjusted OR 2.41 (95%CI 1.06-5.44)). Levels of circulating PDGF AA were highest in cases with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) (mean 8.78 +/- 1.54 pg/ml). In this study, increased mid-pregnancy maternal serum levels of PDGF AA were associated with CCHDs in offspring. The highest PDGF AA levels were found in mothers of fetuses with HLHS. These findings may be useful in screening for CCHDs and offer insight into their association with nuchal translucency.

Background This is the first study in Panama and Central America that has included indigenous populations in an assessment of the association between socioeconomic variables with delayed diagnosis and mortality due to congenital heart defects (CHD). Methods A retrospective observational study was conducted. A sample calculation was performed and 954 infants born from 2010 to 2014 were randomly selected from clinical records of all Panamanian public health institutions with paediatric cardiologists. Critical CHD was defined according to the defects listed as targets of newborn pulse oximetry screening. Diagnoses were considered delayed when made after the third day of life for the critical CHD and after the twentieth day of life for the non-critical. A logistic regression model was performed to examine the association between socioeconomic variables and delayed diagnosis. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the relationship between socioeconomic features and mortality. Results An increased risk of delayed diagnosis was observed in infants with indigenous ethnicity (AOR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.03–2.37), low maternal education (AOR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.09–2.25) and homebirth (AOR, 4.32; 95% CI, 1.63–11.48). Indigenous infants had a higher risk of dying due to CHD (HR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.03–1.99), as did those with low maternal education (HR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.45–2.62). Conclusion Inequalities in access to health care, conditioned by unfavourable socioeconomic features, may play a key role in delayed diagnosis and mortality of CHD patients. Further studies are required to study the relationship between indigenous ethnicity and these adverse health outcomes. PMID:27648568

CHF - tests; Congestive heart failure - tests; Cardiomyopathy - tests; HF - tests ... An echocardiogram (Echo) is a test that uses sound waves to create a moving picture of the heart. The picture is much more detailed than a plain ...

With increasing maternal age and the presence of comorbid conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular assessment and monitoring is the responsibility of all clinicians caring for pregnant patients. Furthermore, there are specific conditions, such as mitral stenosis, peripartum cardiomyopathy, and preeclampsia, that can be associated with heart failure and secondary maternal (and fetal) mortality and morbidity. The important causes of heart failure in pregnancy are discussed.

The western stock of the Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) in the northern Pacific Ocean has declined by approximately 80% over the past 30 years. This led to the listing of this sea lion population as an endangered species in 1997. Chemical pollution is [corrected] one of several contributing causes. In the present study, 145 individual PCBs were determined in tissues of male sea lions from Tatitlek (Prince William Sound) and St. Paul Island (Bering Sea), and placentae from the Aleutian Islands. PCBs 90/101, 118, and 153 were abundant in all the samples. The mean toxic equivalents (TEQ) were 2.6, 4.7 and 7.4 pg/g lw in the kidney, liver, and blubber samples, respectively. The mean TEQ in placentae was 8 pg/g lw. Total PCBs concentrations (2.6-7.9 μg/g lw) in livers of some males were within a range known to cause physiological effects, further [corrected] suggesting the possibility of adverse effects on this stock.

... with echocardiography. It is a good first-line test for a woman with symptoms and risk factors for heart disease. Echocardiography uses sound waves technology to give detailed information about the heart muscle, ...

Sound symbolism is the study of the relationship between the sound of an utterance and its meaning. In this interdisciplinary collection of new studies, 24 leading scholars discuss the role of sound symbolism in a theory of language. Contributions and authors include the following: "Sound-Symbolic Processes" (Leanne Hinton, Johanna…

There are four valves in the heart: aortic valve, mitral valve, tricuspid valve, and pulmonary valve. The valves are designed to control the direction of blood flow through the heart. The opening and closing of the heart valves produce the heart-beat sounds.

Detection of the fetal heart tone by auscultation is sometimes easy, other times very difficult. In the model proposed here, the level of difficulty depends upon the position of the fetus within the maternal abdomen. If the fetus lies in the classical left/right occiput anterior position (head down, back against the maternal abdominal wall), detection by a sensor or stethoscope on the maternal abdominal surface is easy. In this mode, named here the ``direct contact'' mode, the heartbeat pushes the fetus against the detecting sensor. The motion generates pressure by impact and does not involve acoustic propagation at all. If the fetus lies in a persistent occiput posterior position (spine-to-spine, fetus facing forward), detection is difficult. In this, the ``fluid propagation'' mode, sound generated by the fetal heart and propagating across the amniotic fluid produces extremely weak signals at the maternal surface, typically 30 dB lower than those of the direct contact mode. This reduction in tone level can be compensated by judicious selection of detection frequency band and by exploiting the difference between the background noise levels of the two modes. Experimental clinical results, demonstrating the tones associated with the two respective modes, will be presented.

Maternity blues is a transient change of mood that occurs mainly between the 1st and 10th day of puerpartum and is characterized by bursts of tears, mild depressive mood, anxiety and liability of mood. The frequency of maternity blues varies in different studies form 4% to 80%. A number of biological and psychosocial parameters have been studied in order to determine their correlation with maternity blues. The most well studied biological parameters are progesterone and cortizol although their relation with maternity blues has not yet been clearly defined. Stress and the emotional state of the woman during pregnancy as well as history of mood disorders or maternity blues in a previous birth are the psychosocial parameters that are more likely to correlate with the occurrence of maternity blues. Most of the authors suggest that information on maternity blues and reassurance of the woman are the best way to deal with maternity blues both on preventive and therapeutical basis.

... may be a sign of early bowel obstruction. Causes Most of the sounds you hear in your stomach and intestines are ... a list of more serious conditions that can cause abnormal bowel sounds. Hyperactive, hypoactive, or missing bowel sounds may be ...

Sound absorption indicates the transformation of sound energy into heat. It is, for instance, employed to design the acoustics in rooms. The noise emitted by machinery and plants shall be reduced before arriving at a workplace; auditoria such as lecture rooms or concert halls require a certain reverberation time. Such design goals are realised by installing absorbing components at the walls with well-defined absorption characteristics, which are adjusted for corresponding demands. Sound absorbers also play an important role in acoustic capsules, ducts and screens to avoid sound immission from noise intensive environments into the neighbourhood.

Elevated maternal phenylalanine levels during pregnancy are teratogenic, and may result in embryo-foetopathy, which could lead to stillbirth, significant psychomotor handicaps and birth defects. This foetal damage is known as maternal phenylketonuria. Women of childbearing age with all forms of phenylketonuria, including mild variants such as hyperphenylalaninaemia, should receive detailed counselling regarding their risks for adverse foetal effects, optimally before contemplating pregnancy. The most assured way to prevent maternal phenylketonuria is to maintain the maternal phenylalanine levels within the optimal range already before conception and throughout the whole pregnancy. Authors review the comprehensive programme for prevention of maternal phenylketonuria at the Metabolic Center of Budapest, they survey the practical approach of the continuous maternal metabolic control and delineate the outcome of pregnancies of mothers with phenylketonuria from the introduction of newborn screening until most recently.

Relations between maternal sensitivity and physiological reactivity to infant crying were examined using measures of heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in 49 mothers of second-born infants. Using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale, an independent assessment of maternal sensitivity was made during maternal free play and bathing of…

... are believed to occur when air opens closed air spaces. Rales can be further described as moist, dry, fine, and coarse. Rhonchi. Sounds that resemble snoring. They occur when air is blocked or air flow becomes rough through ...

Discusses the planning and decision-making process in acquiring sound equipment for sports stadiums that will help make the experience of fans more pleasurable. The bidding process and use of consultants is explored. (GR)

Maternal immunization has the potential to protect the pregnant woman, fetus, and infant from vaccine-preventable diseases. Maternal immunoglobulin G is actively transported across the placenta, providing passive immunity to the neonate and infant prior to the infant's ability to respond to vaccines. Currently inactivated influenza, tetanus toxoid, and acellular pertussis vaccines are recommended during pregnancy. Several other vaccines have been studied in pregnancy and found to be safe and immunogenic and to provide antibody to infants. These include pneumococcus, group B Streptococcus, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and meningococcus vaccines. Other vaccines in development for potential maternal immunization include respiratory syncytial virus, herpes simplex virus, and cytomegalovirus vaccines. PMID:24799324

... Bar Home Current Issue Past Issues Cover Story Heart Health Brave Heart Past Issues / Winter 2009 Table of Contents For ... you can have a good life after a heart attack." Lifestyle Changes Surviving—and thriving—after such ...

Lubrication technology originally developed for a series of NASA satellites has produced a commercial product for protecting the sound fidelity of phonograph records. Called Sound Guard, the preservative is a spray-on fluid that deposits a microscopically thin protective coating which reduces friction and prevents the hard diamond stylus from wearing away the softer vinyl material of the disc. It is marketed by the Consumer Products Division of Ball Corporation, Muncie, Indiana. The lubricant technology on which Sound Guard is based originated with NASA's Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO), an Earth-orbiting satellite designed and built by Ball Brothers Research Corporation, Boulder, Colorado, also a division of Ball Corporation. Ball Brothers engineers found a problem early in the OSO program: known lubricants were unsuitable for use on satellite moving parts that would be exposed to the vacuum of space for several months. So the company conducted research on the properties of materials needed for long life in space and developed new lubricants. They worked successfully on seven OSO flights and attracted considerable attention among other aerospace contractors. Ball Brothers now supplies its "Vac Kote" lubricants and coatings to both aerospace and non-aerospace industries and the company has produced several hundred variations of the original technology. Ball Corporation expanded its product line to include consumer products, of which Sound Guard is one of the most recent. In addition to protecting record grooves, Sound Guard's anti-static quality also retards particle accumulation on the stylus. During comparison study by a leading U.S. electronic laboratory, a record not treated by Sound Guard had to be cleaned after 50 plays and the stylus had collected a considerable number of small vinyl particles. The Sound Guard-treated disc was still clean after 100 plays, as was its stylus.

... version of this page please turn Javascript on. Heart Failure What is Heart Failure? In heart failure, the heart cannot pump enough ... failure often experience tiredness and shortness of breath. Heart Failure is Serious Heart failure is a serious and ...

Of the many geophysical remote-sensing techniques available today, a few are suitable for the water ice-rich, layered material expected at the north martian ice cap. Radio echo sounding has been used for several decades to determine ice thickness and internal structure. Selection of operating frequency is a tradeoff between signal attenuation (which typically increases with frequency and ice temperature) and resolution (which is proportional to wavelength). Antenna configuration and size will be additional considerations for a mission to Mars. Several configurations for ice-penetrating radar systems are discussed: these include orbiter-borne sounders, sounding antennas trailed by balloons and penetrators, and lander-borne systems. Lander-borne systems could include short-wave systems capable of resolving fine structure and layering in the upper meters beneath the lander. Spread-spectrum and deconvolution techniques can be used to increase the depth capability of a radar system. If soundings over several locations are available (e.g., with balloons, rovers, or panning short-wave systems), then it will be easier to resolve internal layering, variations in basal reflection coefficient (from which material properties may be inferred), and the geometry of nonhorizontal features. Sonic sounding has a long history in oil and gas exploration. It is, however, unlikely that large explosive charges, or even swept-frequency techniques such as Vibroseis, would be suitable for a Polar lander -- these systems are capable of penetrating several kilometers of material at frequencies of 10-200 Hz, but the energy required to generate the sound waves is large and potentially destructive. The use of audio-frequency and ultrasonic sound generated by piezoelectric crystals is discussed as a possible method to explore layering and fine features in the upper meters of the ice cap. Appropriate choice of transducer(s) will permit operation over a range of fixed or modulated frequencies

Poor classroom acoustics are impairing students' hearing and their ability to learn. However, technology has come up with a solution: tools that focus voices in a way that minimizes intrusive ambient noise and gets to the intended receiver--not merely amplifying the sound, but also clarifying and directing it. One provider of classroom audio…

The modern theory of aerodynamic sound originates from Lighthill's two papers in 1952 and 1954, as is well known. I have heard that Lighthill was motivated in writing the papers by the jet-noise emitted by the newly commercialized jet-engined airplanes at that time. The technology of aerodynamic sound is destined for environmental problems. Therefore the theory should always be applied to newly emerged public nuisances. This issue of Fluid Dynamics Research (FDR) reflects problems of environmental sound in present Japanese technology. The Japanese community studying aerodynamic sound has held an annual symposium since 29 years ago when the late Professor S Kotake and Professor S Kaji of Teikyo University organized the symposium. Most of the Japanese authors in this issue are members of the annual symposium. I should note the contribution of the two professors cited above in establishing the Japanese community of aerodynamic sound research. It is my pleasure to present the publication in this issue of ten papers discussed at the annual symposium. I would like to express many thanks to the Editorial Board of FDR for giving us the chance to contribute these papers. We have a review paper by T Suzuki on the study of jet noise, which continues to be important nowadays, and is expected to reform the theoretical model of generating mechanisms. Professor M S Howe and R S McGowan contribute an analytical paper, a valuable study in today's fluid dynamics research. They apply hydrodynamics to solve the compressible flow generated in the vocal cords of the human body. Experimental study continues to be the main methodology in aerodynamic sound, and it is expected to explore new horizons. H Fujita's study on the Aeolian tone provides a new viewpoint on major, longstanding sound problems. The paper by M Nishimura and T Goto on textile fabrics describes new technology for the effective reduction of bluff-body noise. The paper by T Sueki et al also reports new technology for the

Heart murmurs are the first signs of cardiac valve disorders. Several studies have been conducted in recent years to automatically differentiate normal heartsounds, from heartsounds with murmurs using various types of audio features. Entropy was successfully used as a feature to distinguish different heartsounds. In this paper, new entropy was introduced to analyze heartsounds and the feasibility of using this entropy in classification of five types of heartsounds and murmurs was shown. The entropy was previously introduced to analyze mammograms. Four common murmurs were considered including aortic regurgitation, mitral regurgitation, aortic stenosis, and mitral stenosis. Wavelet packet transform was employed for heartsound analysis, and the entropy was calculated for deriving feature vectors. Five types of classification were performed to evaluate the discriminatory power of the generated features. The best results were achieved by BayesNet with 96.94% accuracy. The promising results substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed wavelet packet entropy for heartsounds classification. PMID:23227043

Pregnant women often complain of palpitations. The differential diagnosis for new-onset palpitations in pregnancy ranges from benign conditions to life-threatening arrhythmias. Maternal arrhythmias can occur in isolation or in the setting of underlying structural heart disease. Optimal management of maternal cardiac arrhythmias includes identification of the specific arrhythmia, diagnosis of comorbid conditions, and appropriate intervention. In general, management of maternal cardiac arrhythmias is similar to that of the general population. Special consideration must be given as to the effects of medications and procedures on both the mother and fetus to optimize outcomes. The importance of multidisciplinary care with cardiology, obstetrics, and anesthesia is emphasized.

A sound synthesis method for modeling and synthesizing dynamic, parameterized sounds. The sound synthesis method yields perceptually convincing sounds and provides flexibility through model parameterization. By manipulating model parameters, a variety of related, but perceptually different sounds can be generated. The result is subtle changes in sounds, in addition to synthesis of a variety of sounds, all from a small set of models. The sound models can change dynamically according to changes in the simulation environment. The method is applicable to both stochastic (impulse-based) and non-stochastic (pitched) sounds.

A fetal heart monitoring system and method for detecting and processing acoustic fetal heart signals transmitted by different signal transmission modes. One signal transmission mode, the direct contact mode, occurs in a first frequency band when the fetus is in direct contact with the maternal abdominal wall. Another signal transmission mode, the fluid propagation mode, occurs in a second frequency band when the fetus is in a recessed position with no direct contact with the maternal abdominal wall. The second frequency band is relatively higher than the first frequency band. The fetal heart monitoring system and method detect and process acoustic fetal heart signals that are in the first frequency band and in the second frequency band.

Sound is an emerging source of renewable energy but it has some limitations. The main limitation is, the amount of energy that can be extracted from sound is very less and that is because of the velocity of the sound. The velocity of sound changes as per medium. If we could increase the velocity of the sound in a medium we would be probably able to extract more amount of energy from sound and will be able to transfer it at a higher rate. To increase the velocity of sound we should know the speed of sound. If we go by the theory of classic mechanics speed is the distance travelled by a particle divided by time whereas velocity is the displacement of particle divided by time. The speed of sound in dry air at 20 °C (68 °F) is considered to be 343.2 meters per second and it won't be wrong in saying that 342.2 meters is the velocity of sound not the speed as it's the displacement of the sound not the total distance sound wave covered. Sound travels in the form of mechanical wave, so while calculating the speed of sound the whole path of wave should be considered not just the distance traveled by sound. In this paper I would like to focus on calculating the actual speed of sound wave which can help us to extract more energy and make sound travel with faster velocity.

The mother's voice, along with other developmentally appropriate sensory events (ie, touch, light, smells), stimulates maturation of the sensory systems and helps shape normal fetal development. While vast changes in the neonatal intensive care unit have occurred over the last 2 decades, little research has addressed the loss of exposure to maternal voice for the preterm infant. To address this gap, we compared studies that directly investigated effects of exposure to maternal voice on preterm infants. Studies reviewed were conducted between 1972 and 2007. All presented recordings of maternal voice at sound levels above current recommendations, and few of the findings reached statistical significance. Some potentially positive developmental effects were indicated. Future study of the effects of exposure to maternal voice on preterm infants using recommended sound levels is needed.

Sound insulation between the different rooms inside a building or to the outside is a very complex problem. First, the airborne sound insulation of ceilings, walls, doors and windows is important. Second, a sufficient structure-borne sound insulation, also called impact sound insulation, for the ceilings, has to be provided especially. Finally, the service equipment should be sufficiently quiet.

While perceiving speech, people see mouth shapes that are systematically associated with sounds. In particular, a vertically stretched mouth produces a /woo/ sound, whereas a horizontally stretched mouth produces a /wee/ sound. We demonstrate that hearing these speech sounds alters how we see aspect ratio, a basic visual feature that contributes…

While the science of sound can be taught by explaining the concept of sound waves and vibrations, the authors of this article focused their efforts on creating a more engaging way to teach the science of sound--through engineering design. In this article they share the experience of teaching sound to third graders through an engineering challenge…

Sound provides and offers amazing insights into the world. Sound waves may be defined as mechanical energy that moves through air or other medium as a longitudinal wave and consists of pressure fluctuations. Humans and animals alike use sound as a means of communication and a tool for survival. Mammals, such as bats, use ultrasonic sound waves to…

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. Heart failure does not mean that your heart has stopped ... Tiredness and shortness of breath Common causes of heart failure are coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and ...

Cardiac arrest during pregnancy is a dedicated chapter in the American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care; however, a robust maternal cardiac arrest knowledge translation strategy and emergency response plan is not usually the focus of institutional emergency preparedness programs. Although maternal cardiac arrest is rare, the emergency department is a high-risk area for receiving pregnant women in either prearrest or full cardiac arrest. It is imperative that institutions review and update emergency response plans for a maternal arrest. This review highlights the most recent science, guidelines, and recommended implementation strategies related to a maternal arrest. The aim of this paper is to increase the understanding of the important physiological differences of, and management strategies for, a maternal cardiac arrest, as well as provide institutions with the most up-to-date literature on which they can build emergency preparedness programs for a maternal arrest.

Heart rate (HR) of Muscovy duck embryos (Cairina moschata f. domestica) was continuously recorded from the 21st day of incubation (E21) until hatching (E35). During that period, embryos were exposed to different acoustic stimuli (species-specific maternal and duckling calls, music, rectangular and sine waves, white noise). Sudden HR changes occurred at the onset of acoustic stimulation (on-response), as well as spontaneously. From E27 onwards, the response rate was significantly higher than the rate of spontaneous HR changes. The on-response rate increased further until E30. Most responses were elicited by maternal calls and music, but rarely by duckling calls. On-responses could be classified into: HR increase (36.4%), HR decrease (37.9%) and an increase in instantaneous HR variability (23.2%). The increase in HR variability occurred only in response to sounds, but not spontaneously. HR increases were mainly observed when the baseline HR was lower than the long-term HR trend. On-response duration was no longer than 3 min in 90% of all observations. The hourly mean HR and standard deviation did not change, even during phonoperiods composed of several sound patterns and lasting several hours. We conclude that Muscovy duck embryos are able to perceive exogenous acoustic stimuli, and that the acousto-sensory-->cardiac axis is functional from E27.

Activities of branched-chain amino acid transaminase were assayed in maternal skeletal muscle, liver and fetal skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, liver, kidney and placenta obtained from fed and 5-day-fasted late gestation ewes. Very high activities were found in placenta; fetal skeletal muscle also had high activity. Fetal brain had intermediate activity, followed by cardiac muscle and kidney. Fetal liver possessed negligible activity. Activities were low in both maternal liver and skeletal muscle. Trends were seen for fasting to increase activities in fetal placenta, skeletal muscle, brain, kidney, heart and maternal liver, but these changes were statistically significant only for fetal brain and placental tissue. Fetal skeletal muscle activity was 100 times that of maternal skeletal muscle. These data imply differences in the metabolism of the branched-chain amino acids by fetal and adult ruminants and expand the thesis that branched-chain amino acids are important to the metabolism of the ovine fetus.

Background To evaluate maternalheart disease as a cause or complicating factor for severe morbidity in the setting of the Brazilian Network for Surveillance of Severe Maternal Morbidity. Methods and Findings Secondary data analysis of this multicenter cross-sectional study was implemented in 27 referral obstetric units in Brazil. From July 2009 to June 2010, a prospective surveillance was conducted among all delivery hospitalizations to identify cases of severe maternal morbidity (SMM), including Potentially Life-Threatening Conditions (PLTC) and Maternal Near Miss (MNM), using the new criteria established by the WHO. The variables studied included: sociodemographic characteristics, clinical and obstetric history of the women; perinatal outcome and the occurrence of maternal outcomes (PLTC, MNM, MD) between groups of cardiac and non-cardiac patients. Only heart conditions with hemodynamic impact characterizing severity of maternal morbidity were considered. 9555 women were included in the Network with severe pregnancy-related complications: 770 maternal near miss cases and 140 maternal death cases. A total of 293 (3.6%) cases were related to heart disease and the condition was known before pregnancy in 82.6% of cases. Maternal near miss occurred in 15% of cardiac disease patients (most due to clinical-surgical causes, p<0.001) and 7.7% of non-cardiac patients (hemorrhagic and hypertensive causes, p<0.001). Maternal death occurred in 4.8% of cardiac patients and in 1.2% of non-cardiac patients, respectively. Conclusions In this study, heart disease was significantly associated with a higher occurrence of severe maternal outcomes, including maternal death and maternal near miss, among women presenting with any severe maternal morbidity. PMID:26650684

Heart diseases are the leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. The number of patients with congenital heart diseases reaching childbearing age, as well as the proportion of women with acquired conditions, such as ischemic heart disease, becoming pregnant is constantly increasing. All women with known heart disease should have pre-pregnancy counseling, to assess maternal and fetal risk. Women at moderate or high risk should be under the care of a specialist prenatal team with experience in managing women with heart disease during pregnancy. Conditions that are considered at particularly high risk (mortality >10%) include Marfan syndrome with dilated aortic root, severe left ventricular dysfunction, severe left heart obstructive lesions, and pulmonary hypertension. Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare and potentially fatal disease related to pregnancy and the postnatal period that presents with symptoms of congestion and/or hypoperfusion and may rapidly progress to acute and life-threatening heart failure. However, the majority of women with heart disease can tolerate pregnancy; therefore an adequate multidisciplinary approach with the gynecologist, anesthesiologist and cardiologist should be advocated in order to reduce maternal and fetal risks associated with pregnancy.

Previous research has related maternal anxiety to insecurity of attachment. Here we ask whether different aspects of maternal sensitivity mediate this link. From a community sample of intact families with 1-3 children, mothers with 4.5-year-olds were selected for low, medium, or high anxiety levels (N = 98). Following Mary Ainsworth's lead, our maternal sensitivity measures were primarily based on ratings of direct observations. Six sets of measures were obtained: positive maternal style at home (a mean of four different ratings); providing a sensitive framework, limit setting, allowing autonomy, criticizing/cutting in (each a mean over two laboratory joint tasks); and tension-making (a mean of three different ratings in a fear-inducing task). Regression analyses showed firstly that maternal anxiety rather than behavioral inhibition or sex of child was the significant predictor of each maternal sensitivity measure; and secondly that these measures rather than maternal anxiety or sex were the significant predictors of security of attachment. Finally, ANOVA's indicated which sets of maternal ratings were associated with each pattern of attachment (Avoidant, Secure, Ambivalent, or Controlling).

Children and adults consistently match some words (e.g., kiki) to jagged shapes and other words (e.g., bouba) to rounded shapes, providing evidence for non-arbitrary sound-shape mapping. In this study, we investigated the influence of vowels on sound-shape matching in toddlers, using four contrasting pairs of nonsense words differing in vowel sound (/i/ as in feet vs. /o/ as in boat) and four rounded-jagged shape pairs. Crucially, we used reduplicated syllables (e.g., kiki vs. koko) rather than confounding vowel sound with consonant context and syllable variability (e.g., kiki vs. bouba). Toddlers consistently matched words with /o/ to rounded shapes and words with /i/ to jagged shapes (p < 0.01). The results suggest that there may be naturally biased correspondences between vowel sound and shape.

A heart transplant removes a damaged or diseased heart and replaces it with a healthy one. The healthy heart comes from a donor who has died. It is the last resort for people with heart failure when all other treatments have failed. The ...

... you're like most people, you think that heart disease is a problem for others. But heart disease is the number one killer in the ... of disability. There are many different forms of heart disease. The most common cause of heart disease ...

When sounds waves reach the ear, they are translated into nerve impulses. These impulses then travel to the brain where they are interpreted by the brain as sound. The hearing mechanisms within the inner ear, can ...

We consider an air bubble in water under conditions of single-bubble sonoluminescence (SBSL) and evaluate the emitted sound field nonperturbatively for subsonic gas-liquid interface motion. Sound emission being the dominant damping mechanism, we also implement the nonperturbative sound damping in the Rayleigh-Plesset equation for the interface motion. We evaluate numerically the sound pulse emitted during bubble collapse and compare the nonperturbative and perturbative results, showing that the usual perturbative description leads to an overestimate of the maximal surface velocity and maximal sound pressure. The radius vs time relation for a full SBSL cycle remains deceptively unaffected.

We report a series of experiments about a little-studied type of compatibility effect between a stimulus and a response: the priming of manual gestures via sounds associated with these gestures. The goal was to investigate the plasticity of the gesture-sound associations mediating this type of priming. Five experiments used a primed choice-reaction task. Participants were cued by a stimulus to perform response gestures that produced response sounds; those sounds were also used as primes before the response cues. We compared arbitrary associations between gestures and sounds (key lifts and pure tones) created during the experiment (i.e. no pre-existing knowledge) with ecological associations corresponding to the structure of the world (tapping gestures and sounds, scraping gestures and sounds) learned through the entire life of the participant (thus existing prior to the experiment). Two results were found. First, the priming effect exists for ecological as well as arbitrary associations between gestures and sounds. Second, the priming effect is greatly reduced for ecologically existing associations and is eliminated for arbitrary associations when the response gesture stops producing the associated sounds. These results provide evidence that auditory-motor priming is mainly created by rapid learning of the association between sounds and the gestures that produce them. Auditory-motor priming is therefore mediated by short-term associations between gestures and sounds that can be readily reconfigured regardless of prior knowledge. PMID:26544884

1. Breast fed maternally-mediated developmental LiCl toxicity was determined in mice offspring as a function of offspring's gender and duration of maternal intake of LiCl (1 mEq). 2. The female offspring were more sensitive than the males to major organ weight changes by maternal exposure to LiCl. 3. Maternal intake of LiCl from preconception until weaning of the nurslings induced offspring hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase and heart lactate dehydrogenase in both sexes which was isoenzyme specific for the latter. 4. The offspring also showed induction of liver aldehyde dehydrogenase but only as consequences of postnatal exposure to LiCl. 5. The results indicate offspring developmental toxicity as a consequence of maternal exposure to Li salts and breast feeding.

... not used to treat first-degree heart block. All types of heart block may increase your risk for other arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation (A-tre-al fih-brih-LA-shun). Talk with your doctor ...

... a million people in the U.S. have a heart attack. About half of them die. Many people have permanent heart damage or die because they don't get ... It's important to know the symptoms of a heart attack and call 9-1-1 if someone ...

Given digital acoustic data emanating from the heartsounds of the beating heart measured from laboratory sheep with implanted Bjoerk-Shiley Convexo-Concave heart valves, it is possible to detect and extract the opening and closing heart beats from the data. Once extracted, spectral or other information can then obtained from the heartbeats and passed on to feature extraction algorithms, neural networks, or pattern recognizers so that the valve condition, either fractured or intact, may be determined.

Given digital acoustic data emanating from the heartsounds of the beating heart measured from laboratory sheep with implanted Bjoerk-Shiley Convexo-Concave heart valves, it is possible to detect and extract the opening and closing heart beats from the data. Once extracted, spectral or other information can then obtained from the heartbeats and passed on to feature extraction algorithms, neutral networks, or pattern recognizers so that the valve condition, either fractured or intact, may be determined.

The conference proceedings on the prevention of mental retardation through improved maternity care consist of six major papers which are followed by panel discussions with two to five participants. Epidemiology of prematurity, topic of the first paper, is discussed in terms of cigarette smoking, asymptomatic bacertiuria, maternalheart volume,…

This is the first scientific statement from the American Heart Association on maternal resuscitation. This document will provide readers with up-to-date and comprehensive information, guidelines, and recommendations for all aspects of maternal resuscitation. Maternal resuscitation is an acute event that involves many subspecialties and allied health providers; this document will be relevant to all healthcare providers who are involved in resuscitation and specifically maternal resuscitation.

The determination of sound power using sound intensity measurements is one of the most important developments in acoustics since the advent of digital signal processing techniques and FFT (fast Fourier transform) techniques in 1970's. Sound power determination using sound intensity measurements is the only way to precisely determine the sound power of noise sources in operating conditions when other noise sources are operating simultaneously. Sound power determination from sound intensity measurements largely obviates the need for special purpose test facilities, such as an anechoic room or a reverberation room. The determination of sound power from sound intensity measurements has many distinct advantages over the traditional determination of the sound power from sound pressure, and it will soon become the dominant method in the determination of the sound power of noise sources in-situ. Sound intensity measurements have been successfully applied to the determination of the sound power levels of noise sources in laboratory conditions, and of small machinery noise sources. The full scale application of this new technique to industrial machinery noise sources is certainly of importance for practical purposes. This dissertation mainly describes progress made in research on the application of sound intensity measurements for the determination of the sound power of noise sources. Results concerning the sound power determination from sound intensity measurements in the following areas are discussed: sound power determination from sound intensity measurements at low frequency, error analysis of sound intensity estimates at low frequency, and sound power determination from sound intensity measurements in the presence of air flow, sound power determination from sound intensity measurements in the presence of strong background noise and some practical considerations on the application of the sound intensity technique to in-situ sound power determination.

The earliest relationship does not begin with birth. Pregnant women construct mental representations of the fetus, and feelings of affiliation or “maternal-fetal attachment” generally increase over the course of gestation. While there is a fairly substantial literature on the development and moderation of psychological features of the maternal-fetal relationship, including the role of ultrasound imaging, relatively little is known about the manner in which maternal psychological functioning influences the fetus. Dispositional levels of maternal stress and anxiety are modestly associated with aspects of fetal heart rate and motor activity. Both induced maternal arousal and relaxation generate fairly immediate alterations to fetal neurobehaviors; the most consistently observed fetal response to changes in maternal psychological state involves suppression of motor activity. These effects may be mediated, in part, by an orienting response of the fetus to changes in the intrauterine environment. Conversely, there is evidence that fetal behaviors elicit maternal physiological responses. Integration of this finding into a more dynamic model of the maternal-fetal dyad, and implications for the postnatal relationship are discussed. Research on the period before birth affords tremendous opportunity for developmental scientists to advance understanding of the origins of human attachment. PMID:20228872

In the field of Cardiology have been identified several heart pathologies associated with problems in valves and narrowing in veins. Each case is associated with a specific sound emitted by the heart, detected in cardiac auscultation. On the Phonocardiogram, sound is visualized as a peak in the wave. In the Optics Laboratory of the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco, we have developed a simulation of the Phonocardiograms of heartsounds associated with the main pathologies and a computer program of recognition of images that allows you to quickly identify the respective diseases. This is a novel way to analyze Phonocardiograms and the foundation for building a portable non-invasive cardiac diagnostic computerized analyzer system.

Part one of a three-part series about noise pollution and its effects on humans. This section presents the background information for teachers who are preparing a unit on sound. The next issues will offer learning activities for measuring the effects of sound and some references. (SA)

Students in a fourth-grade class participated in a series of dynamic sound learning centers followed by a dramatic capstone event--an exploration of the amazing Trashcan Whoosh Waves. It's a notoriously difficult subject to teach, but this hands-on, exploratory approach ignited student interest in sound, promoted language acquisition, and built…

The analytical equations used to interpret TIROS-N sounding radiances for operational applications are presented. Both the National Environmental Satellite System (NESS) Global Operational Synoptic Scale and the NESS/University of Wisconsin (UW) North American Mesoscale Sounding Production Systems are considered.

The authors conducted 4 experiments to test the decision-bound, prototype, and distribution theories for the categorization of sounds. They used as stimuli sounds varying in either resonance frequency or duration. They created different experimental conditions by varying the variance and overlap of 2 stimulus distributions used in a training phase…

Based on the argument that (contrary to critical opinion) the musicians in the various bands associated with Bosstown Sound were indeed talented, cohesive individuals and that the bands' lack of renown was partially a result of ill-treatment by record companies and the press, this paper traces the development of the Bosstown Sound from its…

Regenerating an injured heart holds great promise for millions of patients suffering from heart diseases. Since the human heart has very limited regenerative capacity, this is a challenging task. Numerous strategies aiming to improve heart function have been developed. In this review we focus on approaches intending to replace damaged heart muscle by new cardiomyocytes. Different strategies for the production of cardiomyocytes from human embryonic stem cells or human induced pluripotent stem cells, by direct reprogramming and induction of cardiomyocyte proliferation are discussed regarding their therapeutic potential and respective advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, different methods for the transplantation of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes are described and their clinical perspectives are discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cardiomyocyte Biology: Integration of Developmental and Environmental Cues in the Heart edited by Marcus Schaub and Hughes Abriel.

HLHS; Congenital heart - hypoplastic left heart; Cyanotic heart disease - hypoplastic left heart ... Hypoplastic left heart is a rare type of congenital heart disease. It is more common in males than in females. As ...

Foetal hydrops is always a challenge for the clinician. We report a case of tachycardia associated with hydrops and hydramnios in a pregnancy complicated with diabetic coma at 28 weeks gestation. Normal foetal heart rate was recorded immediately after correction of maternal acidotic status and hydrops eventually disappeared. The woman was delivered at 32 weeks and the baby had an uncomplicated postnatal course. We hypothesise that maternal ketoacidosis has been the precipitating factor of tachycardia and congestive heart failure and that this case is conceptually similar to the "late death" phenomenon, reported in cases of poorly controlled maternal diabetes.

Computing practice today depends on visual output to drive almost all user interaction. Other senses, such as audition, may be totally neglected, or used tangentially, or used in highly restricted specialized ways. We have excellent audio rendering through D-A conversion, but we lack rich general facilities for modeling and manipulating sound comparable in quality and flexibility to graphics. We need coordinated research in several disciplines to improve the use of sound as an interactive information channel. Incremental and separate improvements in synthesis, analysis, speech processing, audiology, acoustics, music, etc. will not alone produce the radical progress that we seek in sonic practice. We also need to create a new central topic of study in digital audio research. The new topic will assimilate the contributions of different disciplines on a common foundation. The key central concept that we lack is sound as a general-purpose information channel. We must investigate the structure of this information channel, which is driven by the cooperative development of auditory perception and physical sound production. Particular audible encodings, such as speech and music, illuminate sonic information by example, but they are no more sufficient for a characterization than typography is sufficient for characterization of visual information. To develop this new conceptual topic of sonic information structure, we need to integrate insights from a number of different disciplines that deal with sound. In particular, we need to coordinate central and foundational studies of the representational models of sound with specific applications that illuminate the good and bad qualities of these models. Each natural or artificial process that generates informative sound, and each perceptual mechanism that derives information from sound, will teach us something about the right structure to attribute to the sound itself. The new Sound topic will combine the work of computer

In women with valvular heart disease, pregnancy-associated cardiovascular changes can contribute to maternal, foetal and neonatal complications. Ideally, a woman with valvular heart disease should receive preconception assessment and counselling from a cardiologist with expertise in pregnancy. For women with moderate- and high-risk valve lesions, appropriate risk stratification and management during pregnancy will optimise outcomes. Pregnancy in women with high-risk lesions, such as severe aortic stenosis, severe mitral stenosis and those with mechanical valves, requires careful planning and coordination of antenatal care by a multidisciplinary team. The purpose of this overview is to describe the expected haemodynamic changes in pregnancy, review pregnancy risks for women with valvular heart disease and discuss strategies for management.

The story of congenital heart disease is one of the major successes of medicine in the last 50 years. Heart conditions previously associated with early death are now successfully treated. Many of these women are now in their child-bearing years wishing to have children of their own. All of these women should be offered comprehensive pre-conception counselling by a dedicated multi-disciplinary team. Each woman will present a unique set of cardiac and obstetric challenges that require an individualised assessment of risk and a carefully documented care plan. In this chapter, I describe the most common forms of congenital heart disease and the specific issues that should be assessed before conception. I present a systematic approach to risk stratification and care planning. These lesions range from mild disease with little implications for pregnancy to those with a sizable risk of maternal mortality or complications. I will also discuss fetal risk factors.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare but important cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. Women with peripartum cardiomyopathy often present with symptoms and signs of heart failure. The diagnosis of peripartum cardiomyopathy is made after all other causes of heart failure are excluded. Emphasis is on the immediate recognition of an unwell pregnant or recently pregnant woman, early diagnosis with the use of echocardiography, and the correct treatment of heart failure.

Concurrent sound associated with very bright meteors manifests as popping, hissing, and faint rustling sounds occurring simultaneously with the arrival of light from meteors. Numerous instances have been documented with −11 to −13 brightness. These sounds cannot be attributed to direct acoustic propagation from the upper atmosphere for which travel time would be several minutes. Concurrent sounds must be associated with some form of electromagnetic energy generated by the meteor, propagated to the vicinity of the observer, and transduced into acoustic waves. Previously, energy propagated from meteors was assumed to be RF emissions. This has not been well validated experimentally. Herein we describe experimental results and numerical models in support of photoacoustic coupling as the mechanism. Recent photometric measurements of fireballs reveal strong millisecond flares and significant brightness oscillations at frequencies ≥40 Hz. Strongly modulated light at these frequencies with sufficient intensity can create concurrent sounds through radiative heating of common dielectric materials like hair, clothing, and leaves. This heating produces small pressure oscillations in the air contacting the absorbers. Calculations show that −12 brightness meteors can generate audible sound at ~25 dB SPL. The photoacoustic hypothesis provides an alternative explanation for this longstanding mystery about generation of concurrent sounds by fireballs. PMID:28145486

Concurrent sound associated with very bright meteors manifests as popping, hissing, and faint rustling sounds occurring simultaneously with the arrival of light from meteors. Numerous instances have been documented with ‑11 to ‑13 brightness. These sounds cannot be attributed to direct acoustic propagation from the upper atmosphere for which travel time would be several minutes. Concurrent sounds must be associated with some form of electromagnetic energy generated by the meteor, propagated to the vicinity of the observer, and transduced into acoustic waves. Previously, energy propagated from meteors was assumed to be RF emissions. This has not been well validated experimentally. Herein we describe experimental results and numerical models in support of photoacoustic coupling as the mechanism. Recent photometric measurements of fireballs reveal strong millisecond flares and significant brightness oscillations at frequencies ≥40 Hz. Strongly modulated light at these frequencies with sufficient intensity can create concurrent sounds through radiative heating of common dielectric materials like hair, clothing, and leaves. This heating produces small pressure oscillations in the air contacting the absorbers. Calculations show that ‑12 brightness meteors can generate audible sound at ~25 dB SPL. The photoacoustic hypothesis provides an alternative explanation for this longstanding mystery about generation of concurrent sounds by fireballs.

Concurrent sound associated with very bright meteors manifests as popping, hissing, and faint rustling sounds occurring simultaneously with the arrival of light from meteors. Numerous instances have been documented with –11 to –13 brightness. These sounds cannot be attributed to direct acoustic propagation from the upper atmosphere for which travel time would be several minutes. Concurrent sounds must be associated with some form of electromagnetic energy generated by the meteor, propagated to the vicinity of the observer, and transduced into acoustic waves. Previously, energy propagated from meteors was assumed to be RF emissions. This has not been well validated experimentally.more » Herein we describe experimental results and numerical models in support of photoacoustic coupling as the mechanism. Recent photometric measurements of fireballs reveal strong millisecond flares and significant brightness oscillations at frequencies ≥40 Hz. Strongly modulated light at these frequencies with sufficient intensity can create concurrent sounds through radiative heating of common dielectric materials like hair, clothing, and leaves. This heating produces small pressure oscillations in the air contacting the absorbers. Calculations show that –12 brightness meteors can generate audible sound at ~25 dB SPL. As a result, the photoacoustic hypothesis provides an alternative explanation for this longstanding mystery about generation of concurrent sounds by fireballs.« less

Medical ultrasound scanners use high-energy pulses to probe the human body. The radiation force resulting from the impact of such pulses on an object can vibrate the object, producing a localized high-intensity sound in the audible range. Here, a theoretical model for the audio sound generated by ultrasound scanners is presented. This model describes the temporal and spectral characteristics of the sound. It has been shown that the sound has rich frequency components at the pulse repetition frequency and its harmonics. Experiments have been conducted in a water tank to measure the sound generated by a clinical ultrasound scanner in various operational modes. Results are in general agreement with the theory. It is shown that a typical ultrasound scanner with a typical spatial-peak pulse-average intensity value at 2 MHz may generate a localized sound-pressure level close to 100 dB relative to 20 μPa in the audible (<20 kHz) range under laboratory conditions. These findings suggest that fetuses may become exposed to a high-intensity audio sound during maternal ultrasound examinations. Therefore, contrary to common beliefs, ultrasound may not be considered a passive tool in fetal imaging..

A distinguishing feature of the discipline of archaeology is its reliance upon sensory dependant investigation. As perceived by all of the senses, the felt environment is a unique area of archaeological knowledge. It is generally accepted that the emergence of industrial processes in the recent past has been accompanied by unprecedented sonic extremes. The work of environmental historians has provided ample evidence that the introduction of much of this unwanted sound, or "noise" was an area of contestation. More recent research in the history of sound has called for more nuanced distinctions than the noisy/quiet dichotomy. Acoustic archaeology tends to focus upon a reconstruction of sound producing instruments and spaces with a primary goal of ascertaining intentionality. Most archaeoacoustic research is focused on learning more about the sonic world of people within prehistoric timeframes while some research has been done on historic sites. In this thesis, by way of a meditation on industrial sound and the physical remains of the Quincy Mining Company blacksmith shop (Hancock, MI) in particular, I argue for an acceptance and inclusion of sound as artifact in and of itself. I am introducing the concept of an individual sound-form, or sonifact , as a reproducible, repeatable, representable physical entity, created by tangible, perhaps even visible, host-artifacts. A sonifact is a sound that endures through time, with negligible variability. Through the piecing together of historical and archaeological evidence, in this thesis I present a plausible sonifactual assemblage at the blacksmith shop in April 1916 as it may have been experienced by an individual traversing the vicinity on foot: an 'historic soundwalk.' The sensory apprehension of abandoned industrial sites is multi-faceted. In this thesis I hope to make the case for an acceptance of sound as a primary heritage value when thinking about the industrial past, and also for an increased awareness and acceptance

Congenital heart block is rare; it is acquired in utero, definitive and, more often than not, complete. It can be diagnosed by the appearance of fetal bradycardia around the 23rd week of gestation, during ultrasonographic monitoring of pregnancy. Heart block is usually associated with the presence of anti-Ro and/or anti-La antibodies in the mother's serum. These maternal immunological abnormalities can be isolated or associated with an autoimmune disease, usually systemic lupus erythematosus, but also Sjögren's syndrome, or more rarely still, an as yet unclassified connective tissue disease. Anti-Ro and anti-La antibodies cross the placental barrier and react with a fetal heart, leading to acute fetal myocarditis by the 17th week of gestation. When severe, it is lethal, otherwise it can result in degeneration and endocardial fibroelastosis, disrupting conduction and leading to congenital heart block. The ideal treatment would be prevention with corticosteroids. When the mother is Ro or La antibody-positive before pregnancy, elimination of these circulating antibodies can be attempted by treatment with 0.5 mg/kg body wt/d of prednisolone for 3 months. If the treatment is successful, corticotherapy can be prescribed early in the pregnancy to try to protect the fetus. However, there is not always a relationship between maternal anti-Ro antibodies and fetal heart block. If the Ro/La antibody-positive woman is already pregnant, but before her 17th week, it is possible to prescribe dexamethasone, which crosses the placenta and remains active, sometimes in association with plasmapheresis.

Sounding rockets are suborbital launch vehicles capable of carrying scientific payloads several hundred miles in altitude. These missions return a variety of scientific data including; chemical makeup and physical processes taking place in the atmosphere, natural radiation surrounding the Earth, data on the Sun, stars, galaxies and many other phenomena. In addition, sounding rockets provide a reasonably economical means of conducting engineering tests for instruments and devices used on satellites and other spacecraft prior to their use in more expensive activities. This paper addresses the NASA Wallops Island history of GPS Sounding Rocket experience since 1994 and the development of highly accurate and useful system.

Two studies examined the effects of breast-feeding on maternal cardiovascular function. In the first experiment, groups of breast-feeding and bottle-feeding women were compared on preejection period (PEP), heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) recorded for 1-min periods before and during standard laboratory stressors. Compared with bottle-feeders, breast-feeders had higher CO throughout the session, and greater decreases in CO and increases in TPR during cold pressor. In the second experiment, HR and blood pressure (BP) were compared before and after one breast-feeding and one bottle-feeding session in a within-subjects design. Both feeding methods increased BP but decreased HR, and systolic BP was higher for the breast-feeding than the bottle-feeding condition. Both studies support the notion that breast-feeding alters maternal cardiovascular function, possibly through the actions of oxytocin.

More than 550,000 women die yearly from pregnancy-related causes. Fifty percent (50%) of the world estimate of maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa alone. There is insufficient information on the risk factors of maternal mortality in Cameroon. This study aimed at establishing causes and risk factors of maternal mortality. This was a case-control study from 1st January, 2006 to 31st December, 2010 after National Ethical Committee Approval. Cases were maternal deaths; controls were women who delivered normally. Maternal deaths were obtained from the delivery room registers and in-patient registers. Controls for each case were two normal deliveries following identified maternal deaths on the same day. Variables considered were socio-demographic and reproductive health characteristics. Epi Info 3.5.1 was used for analysis. The mean MMR was 287.5/100,000 live births. Causes of deaths were: postpartum hemorrhage (229.2%), unsafe abortion (25%), ectopic pregnancy (12.5%), hypertension in pregnancy (8.3%), malaria (8.3%), anemia (8.3%), heart disease (4.2%), and pneumonia (4.2%), and placenta praevia (4.2%). Ages ranged from 18 to 41 years, with a mean of 27.7 ± 5.14 years. Lack of antenatal care was a risk factor for maternal death (OR=78.33; CI: (8.66- 1802.51)). The mean MMR from 2006 to 2010 was 287.5/100,000 live births. Most of the causes of maternal deaths were preventable. Lack of antenatal care was a risk factor for maternal mortality. Key words: Maternal mortality, causes, risk factors, Cameroon.

More than 550,000 women die yearly from pregnancy-related causes. Fifty percent (50%) of the world estimate of maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa alone. There is insufficient information on the risk factors of maternal mortality in Cameroon. This study aimed at establishing causes and risk factors of maternal mortality. This was a case-control study from 1st January, 2006 to 31st December, 2010 after National Ethical Committee Approval. Cases were maternal deaths; controls were women who delivered normally. Maternal deaths were obtained from the delivery room registers and in-patient registers. Controls for each case were two normal deliveries following identified maternal deaths on the same day. Variables considered were socio-demographic and reproductive health characteristics. Epi Info 3.5.1 was used for analysis. The mean MMR was 287.5/100,000 live births. Causes of deaths were: postpartum hemorrhage (229.2%), unsafe abortion (25%), ectopic pregnancy (12.5%), hypertension in pregnancy (8.3%), malaria (8.3%), anemia (8.3%), heart disease (4.2%), and pneumonia (4.2%), and placenta praevia (4.2%). Ages ranged from 18 to 41 years, with a mean of 27.7 ± 5.14 years. Lack of antenatal care was a risk factor for maternal death (OR=78.33; CI: (8.66- 1802.51)). The mean MMR from 2006 to 2010 was 287.5/100,000 live births. Most of the causes of maternal deaths were preventable. Lack of antenatal care was a risk factor for maternal mortality. Key words: Maternal mortality, causes, risk factors, Cameroon. PMID:26401210

... catheterization Tests to look for cancer Tissue and blood typing , to help make sure your body will not reject the donated heart Ultrasound of your neck and legs You will ... heart pump enough blood to the body. Most often, this is a ...

... español An Incredible Machine Bonus poster (PDF) The Human Heart Anatomy Blood The Conduction System The Coronary Arteries The Heart Valves The Heartbeat Vasculature of the Arm Vasculature of the Head Vasculature of the Leg Vasculature of the Torso ...

Chest auscultation is a crucial and efficient method for diagnosing lung disease; however, it is a subjective process that relies on physician experience and the ability to differentiate between various sound patterns. Because the physiological signals composed of heartsounds and pulmonary sounds (PSs) are greater than 120 Hz and the human ear is not sensitive to low frequencies, successfully making diagnostic classifications is difficult. To solve this problem, we constructed various PS recognition systems for classifying six PS classes: vesicular breath sounds, bronchial breath sounds, tracheal breath sounds, crackles, wheezes, and stridor sounds. First, we used a piezoelectric microphone and data acquisition card to acquire PS signals and perform signal preprocessing. A wavelet transform was used for feature extraction, and the PS signals were decomposed into frequency subbands. Using a statistical method, we extracted 17 features that were used as the input vectors of a neural network. We proposed a 2-stage classifier combined with a back-propagation (BP) neural network and learning vector quantization (LVQ) neural network, which improves classification accuracy by using a haploid neural network. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve verifies the high performance level of the neural network. To expand traditional auscultation methods, we constructed various PS diagnostic systems that can correctly classify the six common PSs. The proposed device overcomes the lack of human sensitivity to low-frequency sounds and various PS waves, characteristic values, and a spectral analysis charts are provided to elucidate the design of the human-machine interface.

de Fuca Strait, Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia ) for a considerable time of the year, predominantly from early spring until late fall (Ford and...the south- ern part of Georgia Strait, Boundary Passage, the southern Gulf Islands and the eastern end of Juan de Fuca Strait (Heimlich- Boran 1988...Figure 2. Distribution of SRKW during September 2006 in Puget Sound and the southern Strait of Georgia (Advanced Satellite Productions, Orca Network

The psycho-physiological effects of several sound stimulations were investigated to evaluate the relationship between a psychological parameter, such as subjective perception, and a physiological parameter, such as the heart rate variability (HRV). Eight female students aged 21-22 years old were tested. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and the movement of the chest-wall for estimating respiratory rate were recorded during three different sound stimulations; (1) music provided by a synthesizer (condition A); (2) birds twitters (condition B); and (3) mechanical sounds (condition C). The percentage power of the low-frequency (LF; 0.05<=0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF; 0.15<=0.40 Hz) components in the HRV (LF%, HF%) were assessed by a frequency analysis of time-series data for 5 min obtained from R-R intervals in the ECG. Quantitative assessment of subjective perception was also described by a visual analog scale (VAS). The HF% and VAS value for comfort in C were significantly lower than in either A and/or B. The respiratory rate and VAS value for awakening in C were significantly higher than in A and/or B. There was a significant correlation between the HF% and the value of the VAS, and between the respiratory rate and the value of the VAS. These results indicate that mechanical sounds similar to C inhibit the para-sympathetic nervous system and promote a feeling that is unpleasant but alert, also suggesting that the HRV reflects subjective perception.

Previous research has demonstrated that auditory rhythms affect both movement and physiological functions. We hypothesized that the ecological sounds of human breathing can affect breathing more than artificial sounds of breathing, varying in tones for inspiration and expiration. To address this question, we monitored the breath duration of participants exposed to three conditions: (a) ecological sounds of breathing, (b) artificial sounds of breathing having equal temporal features as the ecological sounds, (c) no sounds (control). We found that participants' breath duration variability was reduced in the ecological sound condition, more than in the artificial sound condition. We suggest that ecological sounds captured the timing of breathing better than artificial sounds, guiding as a consequence participants' breathing. We interpreted our results according to the Theory of Event Coding, providing further support to its validity, and suggesting its possible extension in the domain of physiological functions which are both consciously and unconsciously controlled.

A single heartbeat is a complicated process. In Dutch upper secondary biology textbooks this process is illustrated by the classical Wiggers diagram, which usually shows different heart-related quantities, like voltage (ECG), blood pressure, and the heartsounds. It may help students to understand the nature of the Wiggers diagram if they perform…

The aim of this study was to investigate developmental changes in heart rate response to repeated low-intensity (85 dB) sound stimulation in fetuses between 32 and 37 weeks of gestation. We measured amplitude changes in heart rate as our index of fetal response. At 35 to 37 weeks of gestation, the majority of fetuses showed a deceleratory response…

... page from the NHLBI on Twitter. What Is Heart Failure? Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can' ... force. Some people have both problems. The term "heart failure" doesn't mean that your heart has stopped ...

... yourself MedlinePlus for More Information National Institute on Aging Related Topics Heart Failure High Blood Cholesterol High ... us | Customer Support | site map National Institute on Aging | U.S. National Library of Medicine | National Institutes of ...

Phonocardiography is a widely used method of listening to the heartsounds and indicating the presence of cardiac abnormalities. Each heart cycle consists of two major sounds – S1 and S2 – that can be used to determine the heart rate. The conventional method of acoustic signal acquisition involves placing the sound sensor at the chest where this sound is most audible. Presented is a novel algorithm for the detection of S1 and S2 heartsounds and the use of them to extract the heart rate from signals acquired by a small sensor placed at the neck. This algorithm achieves an accuracy of 90.73 and 90.69%, with respect to heart rate value provided by two commercial devices, evaluated on more than 38 h of data acquired from ten different subjects during sleep in a pilot clinical study. This is the largest dataset for acoustic heartsound classification and heart rate extraction in the literature to date. The algorithm in this study used signals from a sensor designed to monitor breathing. This shows that the same sensor and signal can be used to monitor both breathing and heart rate, making it highly useful for long-term wearable vital signs monitoring. PMID:26609401

Phonocardiography is a widely used method of listening to the heartsounds and indicating the presence of cardiac abnormalities. Each heart cycle consists of two major sounds - S1 and S2 - that can be used to determine the heart rate. The conventional method of acoustic signal acquisition involves placing the sound sensor at the chest where this sound is most audible. Presented is a novel algorithm for the detection of S1 and S2 heartsounds and the use of them to extract the heart rate from signals acquired by a small sensor placed at the neck. This algorithm achieves an accuracy of 90.73 and 90.69%, with respect to heart rate value provided by two commercial devices, evaluated on more than 38 h of data acquired from ten different subjects during sleep in a pilot clinical study. This is the largest dataset for acoustic heartsound classification and heart rate extraction in the literature to date. The algorithm in this study used signals from a sensor designed to monitor breathing. This shows that the same sensor and signal can be used to monitor both breathing and heart rate, making it highly useful for long-term wearable vital signs monitoring.

Superfluids support many different types of sound waves. We investigate the relation between the sound waves in a relativistic and a nonrelativistic superfluid by using hydrodynamics to calculate the various sound speeds. Then, using a particular holographic scalar gravity realization of a strongly interacting superfluid, we compute first, second, and fourth sound speeds as a function of the temperature. The relativistic low temperature results for second sound differ from Landau's well known prediction for the nonrelativistic, incompressible case.

Sounding rockets are suborbital launch vehicles capable of carrying scientific payloads several hundred miles in altitude. These missions return a variety of scientific data including; chemical makeup and physical processes taking place In the atmosphere, natural radiation surrounding the Earth, data on the Sun, stars, galaxies and many other phenomena. In addition, sounding rockets provide a reasonably economical means of conducting engineering tests for instruments and devices used on satellites and other spacecraft prior to their use in more expensive activities. The NASA Sounding Rocket Program is managed by personnel from Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility (GSFC/WFF) in Virginia. Typically around thirty of these rockets are launched each year, either from established ranges at Wallops Island, Virginia, Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico or from Canada, Norway and Sweden. Many times launches are conducted from temporary launch ranges in remote parts of the world requi6ng considerable expense to transport and operate tracking radars. An inverse differential GPS system has been developed for Sounding Rocket. This paper addresses the NASA Wallops Island history of GPS Sounding Rocket experience since 1994 and the development of a high accurate and useful system.

Sounds heard simultaneously with the flight of large meteor fireballs are electrical in origin. Confirmation that Extra/Very Low Frequency (ELF/VLF) electromagnetic radiation is produced by the fireball was obtained by Japanese researchers. Although the generation mechanism is not fully understood, studies of the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project (MORP) and other fireball data indicate that interaction with the atmosphere is definitely responsible and the cut-off magnitude of -9 found for sustained electrophonic sounds is supported by theory. Brief bursts of ELF/VLF radiation may accompany flares or explosions of smaller fireballs, producing transient sounds near favorably placed observers. Laboratory studies show that mundane physical objects can respond to electrical excitation and produce audible sounds. Reports of electrophonic sounds should no longer be discarded. A catalog of over 300 reports relating to electrophonic phenomena associated with meteor fireballs, aurorae, and lightning was assembled. Many other reports have been cataloged in Russian. These may assist the full solution of the similar long-standing and contentious mystery of audible auroral displays.

Introduction Heart failure occurs in 3% to 4% of adults aged over 65 years, usually as a consequence of coronary artery disease or hypertension, and causes breathlessness, effort intolerance, fluid retention, and increased mortality. The 5-year mortality in people with systolic heart failure ranges from 25% to 75%, often owing to sudden death following ventricular arrhythmia. Risks of cardiovascular events are increased in people with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) or heart failure. Methods and outcomes We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of multidisciplinary interventions for heart failure? What are the effects of exercise in people with heart failure? What are the effects of drug treatments for heart failure? What are the effects of devices for treatment of heart failure? What are the effects of coronary revascularisation for treatment of heart failure? What are the effects of drug treatments in people at high risk of heart failure? What are the effects of treatments for diastolic heart failure? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to August 2010 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Results We found 80 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions. Conclusions In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: aldosterone receptor antagonists, amiodarone, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, anticoagulation, antiplatelet agents, beta-blockers, calcium

The propagation of sound waves at infrasonic frequencies (oscillation periods 1.0 - 1000 seconds) in the atmosphere is being studied by a network of seven stations separated geographically by distances of the order of thousands of kilometers. The stations measure the following characteristics of infrasonic waves: (1) the amplitude and waveform of the incident sound pressure, (2) the direction of propagation of the wave, (3) the horizontal phase velocity, and (4) the distribution of sound wave energy at various frequencies of oscillation. Some infrasonic sources which were identified and studied include the aurora borealis, tornadoes, volcanos, gravity waves on the oceans, earthquakes, and atmospheric instability waves caused by winds at the tropopause. Waves of unknown origin seem to radiate from several geographical locations, including one in the Argentine.

Research reported during the past few decades has revealed the importance for human sound localization of the so-called 'monaural spectral cues.' These cues are the result of the direction-dependent filtering of incoming sound waves accomplished by the pinnae. One point of view about how these cues are extracted places great emphasis on the spectrum of the received sound at each ear individually. This leads to the suggestion that an effective way of studying the influence of these cues is to measure the ability of listeners to localize sounds when one of their ears is plugged. Numerous studies have appeared using this monaural localization paradigm. Three experiments are described here which are intended to clarify the results of the previous monaural localization studies and provide new data on how monaural spectral cues might be processed. Virtual sound sources are used in the experiments in order to manipulate and control the stimuli independently at the two ears. Two of the experiments deal with the consequences of the incomplete monauralization that may have contaminated previous work. The results suggest that even very low sound levels in the occluded ear provide access to interaural localization cues. The presence of these cues complicates the interpretation of the results of nominally monaural localization studies. The third experiment concerns the role of prior knowledge of the source spectrum, which is required if monaural cues are to be useful. The results of this last experiment demonstrate that extraction of monaural spectral cues can be severely disrupted by trial-to-trial fluctuations in the source spectrum. The general conclusion of the experiments is that, while monaural spectral cues are important, the monaural localization paradigm may not be the most appropriate way to study their role.

Automated Analysis Corporation's COMET is a suite of acoustic analysis software for advanced noise prediction. It analyzes the origin, radiation, and scattering of noise, and supplies information on how to achieve noise reduction and improve sound characteristics. COMET's Structural Acoustic Foam Engineering (SAFE) module extends the sound field analysis capability of foam and other materials. SAFE shows how noise travels while airborne, how it travels within a structure, and how these media interact to affect other aspects of the transmission of noise. The COMET software reduces design time and expense while optimizing a final product's acoustical performance. COMET was developed through SBIR funding and Langley Research Center for Automated Analysis Corporation.

Maternal directiveness is portrayed as a negative interactional phenomenon in the mental retardation literature. Based on the speculation that a directive interactional style is causally related to poor developmental outcomes, the reduction of maternal directive behaviour is becoming a major thrust in early intervention work. This paper questions the characterization of directiveness as an inherently negative interactional phenomenon and highlights limitations in our current understanding of directiveness. Critical issues requiring attention in future research are identified and early interventionists cautioned that management of maternal directive behaviour must be founded on sound, empirically validated principles.

We examined maternal competition, an unexplored form of competition between women. Given women's high investment in offspring and mothers' key role in shaping their reproductive, social, and cultural success as adults, we might expect to see maternal competition between women as well as mate competition. Predictions about the effect of maternal characteristics (age, relationship status, educational background, number of children, investment in the mothering role) and child variables (age, sex) were drawn from evolutionary theory and sociological research. Mothers of primary school children (in two samples: N = 210 and 169) completed a series of questionnaires. A novel nine-item measure of maternal competitive behavior (MCQ) and two subscales assessing Covert (MCQ-C) and Face-to-Face (MCQ-FF) forms of competition were developed using confirmatory factor analysis. Competitiveness (MCQ score) was predicted by maternal investment, single motherhood, fewer children, and (marginally) child's older age. The effect of single motherhood (but not other predictors) was partially mediated by greater maternal investment. In response to a scenario of their child underperforming relative to their peers, a mother's competitive distress was a positive function of the importance she ascribed to their success and her estimation of her child's ability. Her competitive distress was highly correlated with the distress she attributed to a female friend, hinting at bidirectional dyadic effects. Qualitative responses indicated that nonspecific bragging and boasting about academic achievements were the most common irritants. Although 40% of women were angered or annoyed by such comments, less than 5% endorsed a direct hostile response. Instead, competitive mothers were conversationally shunned and rejected as friends. We suggest that the interdependence of mothers based on reciprocal childcare has supported a culture of egalitarianism that is violated by explicit competitiveness.

Differences in insect morphology and movement during singing provide a fascinating opportunity for students to investigate insects while learning about the characteristics of sound. In the activities described here, students use a free online computer software program to explore the songs of the major singing insects and experiment with making…

Claims that in metrical prose, rhythm can convey sense or express and underline what a writer is saying, and sound can be exploited to add a strong aural element that provides pleasure to the ears over and above the pleasure given by the sense of story. (SRT)

Sound propagation is not easy for children to understand because of its abstract nature, often best represented by models such as wave drawings and particle dots. Teachers Rebecca Hendrix and Charles Eick wondered how science inquiry, when combined with an unlikely discipline like drama, could produce a better understanding among their…

From the earliest days of their lives, children are exposed to all kinds of sound, from soft, comforting voices to the frightening rumble of thunder. Consequently, children develop their own naïve explanations largely based upon their experiences with phenomena encountered every day. When new information does not support existing conceptions,…

Introduction Heart failure occurs in 3% to 4% of adults aged over 65 years, usually as a consequence of coronary artery disease or hypertension, and causes breathlessness, effort intolerance, fluid retention, and increased mortality. The 5-year mortality in people with systolic heart failure ranges from 25% to 75%, often owing to sudden death following ventricular arrhythmia. Risks of cardiovascular events are increased in people with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) or heart failure. Methods and outcomes We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of non-drug treatments, and of drug and invasive treatments, for heart failure? What are the effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in people at high risk of heart failure? What are the effects of treatments for diastolic heart failure? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to May 2009 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Results We found 85 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions. Conclusions In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: aldosterone receptor antagonists, amiodarone, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, anticoagulation, antiplatelet agents, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, cardiac resynchronisation therapy, digoxin (in people already receiving diuretics and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors), exercise, hydralazine plus isosorbide dinitrate, implantable cardiac

Starting in the early 1960s, spacecraft-borne plasma wave instruments revealed that space is filled with an astonishing variety of radio and plasma wave sounds, which have come to be called "sounds of space." For over forty years these sounds have been collected and played to a wide variety of audiences, often as the result of press conferences or press releases involving various NASA projects for which the University of Iowa has provided plasma wave instruments. This activity has led to many interviews on local and national radio programs, and occasionally on programs haviang world-wide coverage, such as the BBC. As a result of this media coverage, we have been approached many times by composers requesting copies of our space sounds for use in their various projects, many of which involve electronic synthesis of music. One of these collaborations led to "Sun Rings," which is a musical event produced by the Kronos Quartet that has played to large audiences all over the world. With the availability of modern computer graphic techniques we have recently been attempting to integrate some of these sound of space into an educational audio/video web site that illustrates the scientific principles involved in the origin of space plasma waves. Typically I try to emphasize that a substantial gas pressure exists everywhere in space in the form of an ionized gas called a plasma, and that this plasma can lead to a wide variety of wave phenomenon. Examples of some of this audio/video material will be presented.

The article provides a formula for calculating the frequency of sound absorbed panel with a perforated wall. And although the sound absorbing structure is a set of resonators Helmholtz, not individual resonators should be considered in acoustic calculations, and all the perforated wall panel. The analysis, showing how the parameters affect the size and sound-absorbing structures in the absorption rate.

The plausibility of using the two microphone sound intensity technique to study noise transmission into light aircraft was investigated. In addition, a simple model to predict the interior sound pressure level of the cabin was constructed.

This paper discusses ways in which maternal attitudes may serve as mediating variables linking social class characteristics of the family to the socialization of children. Reference is made to the Family Problem Scale (Ernhart and Loevinger) which provides a psychological characterization of social class levels on five dimensions or subscales:…

Using the first nationally representative birth cohort study in Taiwan, this paper examines the role that maternity leave policy in Taiwan plays in the timing of mothers returning to work after giving birth, as well as the extent to which this timing is linked to the amount of time mothers spend with their children and their use of breast milk…

In this paper I consider the ways in which lactation has been discussed as a form of maternal sexuality, and the implications this carries for our understanding of breastfeeding practices and sexuality. Drawing on knowledge constructed in the western world during the last half of the twentieth century, the paper identifies a shift between the…

... to the heart.Usually, a blockage starts with atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fatty deposits (called plaque) ... Americans and native Hawaiians are at greater risk.Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)Lack of exerciseStressObesitySex (Gender)-- ...

Background Hypertensive disorders represent the major cause of maternal morbidity in middle income countries. The main objective of this study was to identify the prevalence and factors associated with severe maternal outcomes in women with severe hypertensive disorders. Methods This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study, including 6706 women with severe hypertensive disorder from 27 maternity hospitals in Brazil. A prospective surveillance of severe maternal morbidity with data collected from medical charts and entered into OpenClinica®, an online system, over a one-year period (2009 to 2010). Women with severe preeclampsia, severe hypertension, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome were included in the study. They were grouped according to outcome in near miss, maternal death and potentially life-threatening condition. Prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals adjusted for cluster effect for maternal and perinatal variables and delays in receiving obstetric care were calculated as risk estimates of maternal complications having a severe maternal outcome (near miss or death). Poisson multiple regression analysis was also performed. Results Severe hypertensive disorders were the main cause of severe maternal morbidity (6706/9555); the prevalence of near miss was 4.2 cases per 1000 live births, there were 8.3 cases of Near Miss to 1 Maternal Death and the mortality index was 10.7% (case fatality). Early onset of the disease and postpartum hemorrhage were independent variables associated with severe maternal outcomes, in addition to acute pulmonary edema, previous heart disease and delays in receiving secondary and tertiary care. Conclusions In women with severe hypertensive disorders, the current study identified situations independently associated with a severe maternal outcome, which could be modified by interventions in obstetric care and in the healthcare system. Furthermore, the study showed the feasibility of a hospital system for surveillance of severe

Sarah Screech, Danny Decibel, Sweetie Sound and Neil Noisy describe their experiences in the world of sound and noise to elementary students. Presented are their reports, games and charts which address sound measurement, the effects of noise on people, methods of noise control, and related areas. The workbook is intended to stimulate students'…

"THE SOUND PATTERN OF ENGLISH" PRESENTS A THEORY OF SOUND STRUCTURE AND A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE SOUND STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF GENERATIVE GRAMMAR. IN THE PREFACE TO THIS BOOK THE AUTHORS STATE THAT THEIR "WORK IN THIS AREA HAS REACHED A POINT WHERE THE GENERAL OUTLINES AND MAJOR THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES ARE FAIRLY CLEAR" AND…

When children first hear the term "sound wave" perhaps they might associate it with the way a hand waves or perhaps the squiggly line image on a television monitor when sound recordings are being made. Research suggests that children tend to think sound somehow travels as a discrete package, a fast-moving invisible thing, and not something that…

Sound can help us explore and analyze complex data sets in scientific computing. The authors describe a digital instrument for additive sound synthesis (Diass) and a program to visualize sounds in a virtual reality environment (M4Cave). Both are part of a comprehensive music composition environment that includes additional software for computer-assisted composition and automatic music notation.

Heart disease, Coronary heart disease, Coronary artery disease; Arteriosclerotic heart disease; CHD; CAD ... buildup of plaque in the arteries to your heart. This may also be called hardening of the ...

... picture of the outside of a normal, healthy, human heart. Heart Exterior Figure A shows the location of ... picture of the inside of a normal, healthy, human heart. Heart Interior Figure A shows the location of ...

... be coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure, and diabetic cardiomyopathy. Diabetes by itself puts you at risk for heart disease. Other risk factors include Family history of heart disease Carrying extra ...

Resources - heart disease ... The following organizations are good resources for information on heart disease: American Heart Association -- www.heart.org Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- www.cdc.gov/heartdisease

The unique mechanical and acoustical properties of wood and its aesthetic appeal still make it the material of choice for musical instruments and the interior of concert halls. Worldwide, several hundred wood species are available for making wind, string, or percussion instruments. Over generations, first by trial and error and more recently by scientific approach, the most appropriate species were found for each instrument and application. Using material property charts on which acoustic properties such as the speed of sound, the characteristic impedance, the sound radiation coefficient, and the loss coefficient are plotted against one another for woods. We analyze and explain why spruce is the preferred choice for soundboards, why tropical species are favored for xylophone bars and woodwind instruments, why violinists still prefer pernambuco over other species as a bow material, and why hornbeam and birch are used in piano actions.

The NASA/Thiokol/industry team has developed and started implementation of an environmentally sound manufacturing plan for the continued production of solid rocket motors. They have worked with other industry representatives and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to prepare a comprehensive plan to eliminate all ozone depleting chemicals from manufacturing processes and to reduce the use of other hazardous materials used to produce the space shuttle reusable solid rocket motors. The team used a classical approach for problem solving combined with a creative synthesis of new approaches to attack this problem. As our ability to gather data on the state of the Earth's environmental health increases, environmentally sound manufacturing must become an integral part of the business decision making process.

The NASA/Thiokol/industry team has developed and started implementation of an environmentally sound manufacturing plan for the continued production of solid rocket motors. They have worked with other industry representatives and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to prepare a comprehensive plan to eliminate all ozone depleting chemicals from manufacturing processes and to reduce the use of other hazardous materials used to produce the space shuttle reusable solid rocket motors. The team used a classical approach for problem solving combined with a creative synthesis of new approaches to attack this problem. As our ability to gather data on the state of the Earth's environmental health increases, environmentally sound manufacturing must become an integral part of the business decision making process.

The expression of maternal behavior in mammals is regulated by the developmental and experiential events over a female's lifetime. In this review the relationships between the endocrine and neural systems that play key roles in these developmental and experiential processes that affect both the establishment and maintenance of maternal care are presented. The involvement of the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and lactogens are discussed in the context of ligand, receptor, and gene activity in rodents and to a lesser extent in higher mammals. The roles of neuroendocrine factors, including oxytocin, vasopressin, classical neurotransmitters, and other neural gene products that regulate aspects of maternal care are set forth, and the interactions of hormones with central nervous system mediators of maternal behavior are discussed. The impact of prior developmental factors, including epigenetic events, and maternal experience on subsequent maternal care are assessed over the course of the female's lifespan. It is proposed that common neuroendocrine mechanisms underlie the regulation of maternal care in mammals.

Although medical literature on social inequalities in perinatal health is qualitatively heterogeneous, it is quantitatively important and reveals the existence of a social gradient in terms of perinatal risk. However, published data regarding maternal health, if also qualitatively heterogeneous, are relatively less numerous. Nevertheless, it appears that social inequalities also exist concerning severe maternal morbidity as well as maternal mortality. Analyses are still insufficient to understand the mechanisms involved and explain how the various dimensions of the women social condition interact with maternal health indicators. Inadequate prenatal care and suboptimal obstetric care may be intermediary factors, as they are related to both social status and maternal outcomes, in terms of maternal morbidity, its worsening or progression, and maternal mortality.

Examines alert newborn and five-month-old infants' responsivity to variations in spectral composition of a rattle sound. Head orientation and cardiac responses to sound were recorded. Heart rate change did not vary as a function of frequency at either age, suggesting that all stimuli were equally effective in eliciting the infant's attention.…

A family of sounding rockets called Aries, using the motors from obsolete Minuteman ICBMs, is described. Payloads for Aries range from 1,500 to 3,500 lb (with a payload diameter of 44 in.) and include various instruments (magnetospheric tracers, X-ray and extreme ultraviolet astronomy and a large X-ray telescope). Prospects for future launching of a two and even three-stage Aries are discussed.

Vihman emphasizes the importance of early word production to the emergence of phonological knowledge. This emphasis, consistent with the generative function of phonology, provides insight into the concurrent representation of phonemes and words. At the same time, Vihman's focus on phonology leads her to possibly overstate the influence of early word acquisition on the emergence of sound categories that are probably purely phonetic in nature at the outset of learning.

In four experiments listeners were rotated or were stationary. Sounds came from a stationary loudspeaker or rotated from loudspeaker to loudspeaker around an azimuth array. When either sounds or listeners rotate the auditory cues used for sound source localization change, but in the everyday world listeners perceive sound rotation only when sounds rotate not when listeners rotate. In the everyday world sound source locations are referenced to positions in the environment (a world-centric reference system). The auditory cues for sound source location indicate locations relative to the head (a head-centric reference system), not locations relative to the world. This paper deals with a general hypothesis that the world-centric location of sound sources requires the auditory system to have information about auditory cues used for sound source location and cues about head position. The use of visual and vestibular information in determining rotating head position in sound rotation perception was investigated. The experiments show that sound rotation perception when sources and listeners rotate was based on acoustic, visual, and, perhaps, vestibular information. The findings are consistent with the general hypotheses and suggest that sound source localization is not based just on acoustics. It is a multisystem process.

Heart surgery - pediatric; Heart surgery for children; Acquired heart disease; Heart valve surgery - children ... There are many kinds of heart defects. Some are minor, and others are more serious. Defects can occur inside the heart or in the large blood vessels ...

Many countries have maternity protection laws for women who need job modification or medical leave during pregnancy. This approach will prevent birth defects only if maternal job changes can be made before the critical period of organogenesis, which begins at three weeks' gestation. The authors studied the gestational ages at which pregnant women working with chemicals, radiation, and noise presented for occupational safety and health consultations. The work setting promoted early presentation because the consultation was free, convenient, mandatory, and would not result in job loss. Among the 213 pregnant women evaluated between 1996 and 2000, most (89.5%) had their occupational safety evaluations in the first trimester. Although this sounds ideal, the mean gestational age at presentation was 7.5 weeks, and only 3.3% of occupational health evaluations were initiated by three weeks' gestation. Environmental and biological monitoring showed that none of the women was exposed over occupational limits. These data suggest that a workplace free from reproductive hazards needs to be provided before conception.

Modern cognitive neuroscientific theories and empirical evidence suggest that brain structures involved in movement may be related to action-related semantic knowledge. To test this hypothesis, we examined the naming of environmental sounds in patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), two neurodegenerative diseases associated with cognitive and motor deficits. Subjects were presented with 56 environmental sounds: 28 sounds were of objects that required manipulation when producing the sound, and 28 sounds were of objects that required no manipulation. Subjects were asked to provide the name of the object that produced the sound and also complete a sound-picture matching condition. Subjects included 33 individuals from four groups: CBD/PSP, Alzheimer disease, frontotemporal dementia, and normal controls. We hypothesized that CBD/PSP patients would exhibit impaired naming performance compared with controls, but the impairment would be most apparent when naming sounds associated with actions. We also explored neural correlates of naming environmental sounds using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of brain MRI. As expected, CBD/PSP patients scored lower on environmental sounds naming (p<0.007) compared with the controls. In particular, the CBD/PSP patients scored the lowest when naming sounds of manipulable objects (p<0.05), but did not show deficits in naming sounds of non-manipulable objects. VBM analysis across all groups showed that performance in naming sounds of manipulable objects correlated with atrophy in the left pre-motor region, extending from area six to the middle and superior frontal gyrus. These results indicate an association between impairment in the retrieval of action-related names and the motor system, and suggest that difficulty in naming manipulable sounds may be related to atrophy in the pre-motor cortex. Our results support the hypothesis that retrieval of action-related semantic knowledge involves motor

Phenylketonuria is a genetic disease affecting 1:10,000 to 14,000 live births. In NSW there is an average of nine cases diagnosed each year (Dietitians Working Party 1996). This paper discusses the management of phenylketonuria, and in particular the value of breastfeeding, complemented with a low phenylalanine infant formula, in facilitating easier maintenance of satisfactory phenylalanine blood levels. The 'diet for life' approach to managing phenylketonuria is to avoid long-term neurological deficits and, in particular, the risk that maternal PKU, which is not under strict dietary control, will have adverse effects on infants born of mothers with the disease. There have been 31 successful pregnancies to 1997 managed by the Nutrition and Dietetics Department of The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney. The Maternal PKU diet is presented with the case of a client with phenylketonuria who has achieved two normal pregnancies and breastfed her second child for six months.

James Antaki and a group of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine used many elements of the Technology Utilization Program while looking for a way to visualize and track material points within the heart muscle. What they needed were tiny artificial "eggs" containing copper sulfate solution, small enough (about 2 mm in diameter) that they would not injure the heart, and large enough to be seen in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images; they also had to be biocompatible and tough enough to withstand the beating of the muscle. The group could not make nor buy sufficient containers. After reading an article on microspheres in NASA Tech Briefs, and a complete set of reports on microencapsulation from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), JPL put Antaki in touch with Dr.Taylor Wang of Vanderbilt University who helped construct the myocardial markers. The research is expected to lead to improved understanding of how the heart works and what takes place when it fails.

Maternal serum screening (MSS) measures three serum markers: alpha-fetoprotein, human chorionic gonadotropin, and unconjugated estriol, from which the risk of fetal Down syndrome or open neural tube defect is calculated. Initially, 8% of women will have positive results. I present a protocol for investigating these women. Family physicians should be informed about MSS so they can give their patients information and guidance. PMID:7524838

This paper proposes a cost effective solution for improving the effectiveness of e-auscultation. Auscultation is the most difficult skill for a doctor, since it can be acquired only through experience. The heartsound mixtures are captured by placing the four numbers of sensors at appropriate auscultation area in the body. These sound mixtures are separated to its relevant components by a statistical method independent component analysis. The separated heartbeat sounds can be further processed or can be stored for future reference. This idea can be used for making a low cost, easy to use portable instrument which will be beneficial to people living in remote areas and are unable to take the advantage of advanced diagnosis methods.

Standard Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility sounding files provide atmospheric state data in one dimension of increasing time and height per sonde launch. Many applications require a quick estimate of the atmospheric state at higher time resolution. The INTERPOLATEDSONDE (i.e., Interpolated Sounding) Value-Added Product (VAP) transforms sounding data into continuous daily files on a fixed time-height grid, at 1-minute time resolution, on 332 levels, from the surface up to a limit of approximately 40 km. The grid extends that high so the full height of soundings can be captured; however, most soundings terminate at an altitude between 25 and 30 km, above which no data is provided. Between soundings, the VAP linearly interpolates atmospheric state variables in time for each height level. In addition, INTERPOLATEDSONDE provides relative humidity scaled to microwave radiometer (MWR) observations.

Without altering the structural integrity of the placenta by irradiation or drugs, we have shown that it is possible to immunize females both adoptively and actively against the paternally inherited transplantation antigens of their fetuses. Such immunization causes a high incidence of runt disease among the litters. Although the putative chimeric status of the affected offspring has yet to be confirmed, the results of our experiments support the thesis that runt disease is caused by the activities of "unwanted" immigrant lymphocytes from the maternal circulation. Our results suggest that immunologically activated cells are more likely to cross the placenta than normal cells and that this greater mobility may not be related to the immunologic specificity of the activated cells. Two factors may have contributed to the apparent failure of numerous previous attempts to demonstrate the capacity of transplantation immunity to affect the well-being of a fetus or, more correctly, its placenta, in the way that might be expected of a homograft. (i) Investigators were preoccupied with obtaining a classic type of rejection, in utero, analogous to the rejection of an orthotopic skin homograft. The birth of consistently healthy-looking litters, interpreted as a failure of the experiment, convinced the investigators of the efficacy of nature's solution of the homograft problem and there was no reason for them to suspect its possible limitations. Observation of the litters for several weeks might have uncovered the phenomenon of maternally induced runt disease. (ii) Most investigators resorted to hyperimmunization of the mothers. This would have facilitated the synthesis of protective isoantibodies capable of interfering with the expression of the potentially harmful cellular immune response (6). Ever since the abnormalities of runt disease were first described they have repeatedly been compared to those observed in patients with certain lymphomas (17). Various theories have been

Under Austrian law, precautionary maternity leave is a decree issued by the district public health physician. It forbids a pregnant woman to work and mandates immediate maternity leave. Regular maternity leave for all women employed in all jobs begins at 32 weeks of gestation. Women who work in workplaces deemed dangerous and women with a history of obstetric problems such as premature or growth-retarded babies from previous pregnancies are regularly 'sent' into precautionary maternity leave. The public health physicians of Tirol's nine administrative districts were interviewed and supplied data on precautionary maternity leave from their districts. In 100 women who attended the clinic for pregnancies at risk of the Obstetrics/Gynecology Department of Innsbruck University Hospital and who had already obtained precautionary maternity leave, the medical/administrative procedure was studied in each case and correlated with pregnancy outcome. The town district of Innsbruck and the district that comprises the suburbs of the provincial capital had the highest rates of precautionary maternity leave. The town district of Innsbruck had a rate of 24.3% of all pregnant women (employed and not employed) in precautionary maternity leave in 1997, whereas the whole province of Tirol had 13.4%. More than 80% of decrees for precautionary maternity leave are issued by district public health physicians on the basis of written recommendations from gynecologists. One third of women who are sent into precautionary maternity leave are issued the decree prior to 12 weeks of gestation - mostly cases of multiple pregnancies and women with previous miscarriages. The present system of precautionary maternity leave appears to work in the sense that most working pregnant women with risk factors are correctly identified - with most errors on the side of caution. As the system also helps employers - the employee's pay is paid from the federal family support fund and state insurance once she is in

Background The heart develops under reduced and varying oxygen concentrations, yet there is little understanding of oxygen metabolism in the normal and mal‐development of the heart. Here we used a novel reagent, the ODD‐Luc hypoxia reporter mouse (oxygen degradation domain, ODD) of Hif‐1α fused to Luciferase (Luc), to assay the activity of the oxygen sensor, prolyl hydroxylase, and oxygen reserve, in the developing heart. We tested the role of hypoxia‐dependent responses in heart development by targeted inactivation of Hif‐1α. Methods and Results ODD‐Luciferase activity was 14‐fold higher in mouse embryonic day 10.5 (E10.5) versus adult heart and liver tissue lysates. ODD‐Luc activity decreased in 2 stages, the first corresponding with the formation of a functional cardiovascular system for oxygen delivery at E15.5, and the second after birth consistent with complete oxygenation of the blood and tissues. Reduction of maternal inspired oxygen to 8% for 4 hours caused minimal induction of luciferase activity in the maternal tissues but robust induction in the embryonic tissues in proportion to the basal activity, indicating a lack of oxygen reserve, and corresponding induction of a hypoxia‐dependent gene program. Bioluminescent imaging of intact embryos demonstrated highest activity in the outflow portion of the E13.5 heart. Hif‐1α inactivation or prolonged hypoxia caused outflow and septation defects only when targeted to this specific developmental window. Conclusions Low oxygen concentrations and lack of oxygen reserve during a critical phase of heart organogenesis may provide a basis for vulnerability to the development of common septation and conotruncal heart defects. PMID:24855117

Recently, with the advances in digital signal processing, compression of biomedical signals has received great attention for telemedicine applications. In this paper, an adaptive transform coding-based method for compression of respiratory and swallowing sounds is proposed. Using special characteristics of respiratory sounds, the recorded signals are divided into stationary and nonstationary portions, and two different bit allocation methods (BAMs) are designed for each portion. The method was applied to the data of 12 subjects and its performance in terms of overall signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values was calculated at different bit rates. The performance of different quantizers was also considered and the sensitivity of the quantizers to initial conditions has been alleviated. In addition, the fuzzy clustering method was examined for classifying the signal into different numbers of clusters and investigating the performance of the adaptive BAM with increasing the number of classes. Furthermore, the effects of assigning different numbers of bits for encoding stationary and nonstationary portions of the signal were studied. The adaptive BAM with variable number of bits was found to improve the SNR values of the fixed BAM by 5 dB. Last, the possibility of removing the training part for finding the parameters of adaptive BAMs for each individual was investigated. The results indicate that it is possible to use a predefined set of BAMs for all subjects and remove the training part completely. Moreover, the method is fast enough to be implemented for real-time application.

This report discusses the Puget Sound Telecommuting demonstration project. This is a part-time work and transportation alternative that substitutes the normal work commute with the choice of working at home or at an office close to home. According to Link Resources, a research and consulting firm located in New York, there were 4.6 million part-time home telecommuters in the United States in 1991. This figure, which included only company employees who work at home during normal business hours, is up from 3.4 million in 1990, an increase of 35 percent in one year. Part-time telecommuters average 2.5 days per week at home. (There are also about 876,000 full-time telecommuters in the US.) The study done by Link Resources estimates that 4.5 percent of the civilian work force age 18 or older is telecommuting. The Washington State Energy Office (WSEO) began exploring telecommuting as an alternate route to work for Washington, first through The Governor`s Conference on Telecommuting in June 1989. The conference raised corporate and government awareness of telecommuting, and set the stage for further investigation. In 1990, WSEO launched the Puget Sound Telecommuting Demonstration to explore the environmental, organizational, and personal sides of telecommuting. This report presents the interim research results.

This report discusses the Puget Sound Telecommuting demonstration project. This is a part-time work and transportation alternative that substitutes the normal work commute with the choice of working at home or at an office close to home. According to Link Resources, a research and consulting firm located in New York, there were 4.6 million part-time home telecommuters in the United States in 1991. This figure, which included only company employees who work at home during normal business hours, is up from 3.4 million in 1990, an increase of 35 percent in one year. Part-time telecommuters average 2.5 days per week at home. (There are also about 876,000 full-time telecommuters in the US.) The study done by Link Resources estimates that 4.5 percent of the civilian work force age 18 or older is telecommuting. The Washington State Energy Office (WSEO) began exploring telecommuting as an alternate route to work for Washington, first through The Governor's Conference on Telecommuting in June 1989. The conference raised corporate and government awareness of telecommuting, and set the stage for further investigation. In 1990, WSEO launched the Puget Sound Telecommuting Demonstration to explore the environmental, organizational, and personal sides of telecommuting. This report presents the interim research results.

processes that underlie several aspects of complex pattern recog- nition -- whether of speech, of music , or of environmental sounds. These patterns differ...quality or timbre can play similar grouping roles in auditory steams. Most of the experimental work has concerned timing of successive sounds in sequences...auditory perceptual processes that underlie several aspects of complex pattern recognition - whether of speech, of music , or of environmental sounds

I recently accompanied my son Dan to one of his guitar lessons. As I sat in a separate room, I focused on the music he was playing and the beautiful, robust sound that comes from a well-played guitar. Later that night, I woke up around 3 am. I tend to have my best thoughts at this hour. The trouble is I usually roll over and fall back asleep. This time I was still awake an hour later, so I got up and jotted some notes down in my study. I was thinking about the pure, honest sound of a well-played instrument. From there my mind wandered into the realm of high-performance teams and successful projects. (I know this sounds weird, but this is the sort of thing I think about at 3 am. Maybe you have your own weird thoughts around that time.) Consider a team in relation to music. It seems to me that a crack team can achieve a beautiful, perfect unity in the same way that a band of brilliant musicians can when they're in harmony with one another. With more than a little satisfaction I have to admit, I started to think about the great work performed for you by the Knowledge Sharing team, including this magazine you are reading. Over the past two years I personally have received some of my greatest pleasures as the APPL Director from the Knowledge Sharing activities - the Masters Forums, NASA Center visits, ASK Magazine. The Knowledge Sharing team expresses such passion for their work, just like great musicians convey their passion in the music they play. In the case of Knowledge Sharing, there are many factors that have made this so enjoyable (and hopefully worthwhile for NASA). Three ingredients come to mind -- ingredients that have produced a signature sound. First, through the crazy, passionate playing of Alex Laufer, Michelle Collins, Denise Lee, and Todd Post, I always know that something startling and original is going to come out of their activities. This team has consistently done things that are unique and innovative. For me, best of all is that they are always

Environmental sound archives - casual recordings of people's daily life - are easily collected by MPS players or camcorders with low cost and high reliability, and shared in the web-sites. There are two kinds of user generated recordings we would like to be able to handle in this thesis: Continuous long-duration personal audio and Soundtracks of short consumer video clips. These environmental recordings contain a lot of useful information (semantic concepts) related with activity, location, occasion and content. As a consequence, the environment archives present many new opportunities for the automatic extraction of information that can be used in intelligent browsing systems. This thesis proposes systems for detecting these interesting concepts on a collection of these real-world recordings. The first system is to segment and label personal audio archives - continuous recordings of an individual's everyday experiences - into 'episodes' (relatively consistent acoustic situations lasting a few minutes or more) using the Bayesian Information Criterion and spectral clustering. The second system is for identifying regions of speech or music in the kinds of energetic and highly-variable noise present in this real-world sound. Motivated by psychoacoustic evidence that pitch is crucial in the perception and organization of sound, we develop a noise-robust pitch detection algorithm to locate speech or music-like regions. To avoid false alarms resulting from background noise with strong periodic components (such as air-conditioning), a new scheme is added in order to suppress these noises in the domain of autocorrelogram. In addition, the third system is to automatically detect a large set of interesting semantic concepts; which we chose for being both informative and useful to users, as well as being technically feasible. These 25 concepts are associated with people's activities, locations, occasions, objects, scenes and sounds, and are based on a large collection of

Maternal nutrient restriction during pregnancy is associated with the development of a “thrifty phenotype” in offspring, conferring increased prevalence of metabolic diseases in adulthood. To explore the possible mechanisms behind heart diseases in adulthood following maternal nutrient restriction, dams were fed a nutrient restricted (NR: 50%) or control (100%) diet from 28 to 78 d of gestation. Both groups were then fed 100% of requirements to lambing. At 6 yrs of age, female offspring of NR and control ewes of similar weight and body condition were subject to ad libitum feeding of a highly palatable diet for 12 wks. Cardiac geometry, post-insulin receptor signaling, autophagy and pro-inflammatory cytokines were evaluated in hearts from adult offspring. Our results indicated that maternal nutrient restriction overtly increased body weight gain and triggered cardiac remodeling in offspring following the 12-week ad libitum feeding. Phosphorylation of IRS1 was increased in left but not right ventricles from NR offspring. Levels of STAT3 were upregulated in left ventricles whereas expression of TNFα and TLR4 was enhanced in right ventricles in adult offspring of maternal nutrition restricted ewes. No significant differences were found in pan IRS-1, pan AMPK, pan Akt, pAMPK, pAkt, GLUT4, phosphorylated mTOR, Beclin-1 and LC3 II proteins in left and right ventricle between the control and NR offspring. These data revealed that maternal nutrient restriction during early to mid gestation may predispose adult offspring to cardiac remodeling possibly associated with phosphorylation of IRS1 as well as proinflammatory cytokines but not autophagy. PMID:23333094

Summary Aims Cardiac disease is emerging as an important contributor to maternal deaths in both lower-to-middle and higher-income countries. There has been a steady increase in the overall institutional maternal mortality rate in South Africa over the last decade. The objectives of this study were to determine the cardiovascular causes and contributing factors of maternal death in South Africa, and identify avoidable factors, and thus improve the quality of care provided. Methods Data collected via the South African National Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths (NCCEMD) for the period 2011–2013 for cardiovascular disease (CVD) reported as the primary pathology was analysed. Only data for maternal deaths within 42 days post-delivery were recorded, as per statutory requirement. One hundred and sixty-nine cases were reported for this period, with 118 complete hospital case files available for assessment and data analysis. Results Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) (34%) and complications of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) (25.3%) were the most important causes of maternal death. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, HIV disease infection and anaemia were important contributing factors identified in women who died of peripartum cardiomyopathy. Mitral stenosis was the most important contributor to death in RHD cases. Of children born alive, 71.8% were born preterm and 64.5% had low birth weight. Seventy-eight per cent of patients received antenatal care, however only 33.7% had a specialist as an antenatal care provider. Avoidable factors contributing to death included delay in patients seeking help (41.5%), lack of expertise of medical staff managing the case (29.7%), delay in referral to the appropriate level of care (26.3%), and delay in appropriate action (36.4%). Conclusion The pattern of CVD contributing to maternal death in South Africa was dominated by PPCM and complications of RHD, which could, to a large extent, have been avoided. It is likely that there were

Despite an international consensus on the strategies necessary to achieve a massive reduction of maternal mortality and related neonatal mortality, many countries have made no progress in these areas. The main reason for this failure is that this aspect of public health and the basic human right to bear children under acceptably safe and respectable conditions have received neither sufficient attention from governments in developing countries nor long-term technical and financial support from rich countries. Yet a sound health care system that is accessible to the poorest classes is prerequisite for durable socio-economic development. Implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) provides an excellent opportunity to reaffirm the need for massive support of programs undertaken in this domain by developing countries and for implementation of an effective strategy to enhance access to quality care for the poorest classes. The purpose of this article is to review the main points in a strategy to reduce maternal mortality, i.e., use of practices with documented effectiveness; access to qualified personal during pregnancy and delivery; availability of health services and underlying facilities; the role of individuals, families, and communities; and the political and legal framework. This article also stresses the fact that programs designed to enhance maternal and newborn health can significantly strengthen the health care system for the community as a whole: maternal health offers a gateway for strengthening health care services in general.

Birth defects are responsible for a large proportion of disability and infant mortality. Exposure to a variety of pesticides have been linked to increased risk of birth defects. We conducted a case-control study to estimate the associations between a residence-based metric of agricultural pesticide exposure and birth defects. We linked singleton live birth records for 2003-2005 from the North Carolina (NC) State Center for Health Statistics to data from the NC Birth Defects Monitoring Program. Included women had residence at delivery inside NC and infants with gestational ages from 20-44 weeks (n=304,906). Pesticide exposure was assigned using a previously constructed metric, estimating total chemical exposure (pounds of active ingredient) based on crops within 500 meters of maternal residence, specific dates of pregnancy, and chemical application dates based on the planting/harvesting dates of each crop. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for four categories of exposure (90th percentiles) compared to unexposed. Models were adjusted for maternal race, age at delivery, education, marital status, and smoking status. We observed elevated ORs for congenital heart defects and certain structural defects affecting the gastrointestinal, genitourinary and musculoskeletal systems (e.g., OR (95% CI) (highest exposure vs. unexposed) for tracheal esophageal fistula/esophageal atresia = 1.98 (0.69, 5.66), and OR for atr

Mothers in numerous species exhibit heightened aggression in defense of their young. This shift typically coincides with the duration of lactation in nonhuman mammals, which suggests that human mothers may display similarly accentuated aggressiveness while breast feeding. Here we report the first behavioral evidence for heightened aggression in lactating humans. Breast-feeding mothers inflicted louder and longer punitive sound bursts on unduly aggressive confederates than did formula-feeding mothers or women who had never been pregnant. Maternal aggression in other mammals is thought to be facilitated by the buffering effect of lactation on stress responses. Consistent with the animal literature, our results showed that while lactating women were aggressing, they exhibited lower systolic blood pressure than did formula-feeding or never-pregnant women while they were aggressing. Mediation analyses indicated that reduced arousal during lactation may disinhibit female aggression. Together, our results highlight the contributions of breast feeding to both protecting infants and buffering maternal stress.

Across development, maternal depression has been found to be a risk factor for youth psychopathology generally and youth depression specifically. Maternal Expressed Emotion (EE) has been examined as a predictor of outcome among youth with depression. The present study explored the associations between youth psychopathology and two…

Although maternal socioeconomic status and health predict in part children's future health and socioeconomic prospects, it is possible that the intergenerational association flows in the other direction such that child health affects maternal outcomes. Previous research demonstrates that poor child health increases the risk of adverse maternal…

Liver glycogen availability in the newborn is of major importance for the maintenance of postnatal blood glucose levels. This study examined the effect of maternal ethanol ingestion on maternal and neonatal glucose balance in the rate. Female rats were placed on 1) the Lieber-DeCarli liquid ethanol diet, 2) an isocaloric liquid pair-diet, or 3) an ad libitum rat chow diet at 3 wk before mating and throughout gestation. Blood and livers were obtained from dams and rat pups on gestational days 21 and 22. The pups were studied up to 6 h in the fasted state and up to 24 h in the fed state. Maternal ethanol ingestion significantly decreased litter size, birth weight, and growth. A significantly higher mortality during the early postnatal period was seen in the prenatal ethanol exposed pups. Ethanol significantly decreased fed maternal liver glycogen stores but not maternal plasma glucose levels. The newborn rats from ethanol ingesting dams also had significantly decreased liver glycogen stores. Despite mobilizing their available glycogen, these prenatal ethanol exposed pups became hypoglycemic by 6 h postnatal. This was more marked in the fasted pups. Ethanol did not affect maternal nor neonatal plasma insulin levels. Thus maternal ethanol ingestion reduces maternal and neonatal liver glycogen stores and leads to postnatal hypoglycemia in the newborn rat.

Current practices of obstetrical care tend to hinder rather than facilitate family development and maturation. A program of family centred maternity care is described. Husbands are invited to prenatal visits, and are involved in intensive preparation for labor and delivery. Their presence and active participation in labor, delivery, and postpartum course are encouraged. This, along with a rooming-in policy for the baby, and the utilization of the postpartum period for an intensive training in parenthood, appears to produce a safe and satisfying obstetrical experience for the family. PMID:20468914

Bathymetric charts for many areas of the ocean are cheap and accurate, and we usually take their availability for granted. In these times of abundant information, it is easy to forget the wonder and excitement of the last century, when mechanical sounding machines revealed for the first time the major features of the ocean depths. Who would not be awed by the graceful sweep of the Blake Plateau or the plunging depths of the Puerto Rico Trench, and who could remain unimpressed by undersea mountain ranges more majestic than any in view? In his 1888 book, entitled Three Cruises of the Blake, Alexander Agassiz has this to say about the spectacular Caribbean bottom topography: “Compared to such panoramas the finest views of the range of the Alps sink into insignificance; it is only when we get a view of portions of the Andes from the sea-coast…that we get anything approximating to it in grandeur.”

Flying board Voyagers 1 and 2 are identical 'golden' records, carrying the story of Earth far into deep space. The 12 inch gold-plated copper discs contain greetings in 60 languages, samples of music from different cultures and eras, and natural and man-made sounds from Earth. They also contain electronic information that an advanced technological civilization could convert into diagrams and photographs. The cover of each gold plated aluminum jacket, designed to protect the record from micrometeorite bombardment, also serves a double purpose in providing the finder a key to playing the record. The explanatory diagram appears on both the inner and outer surfaces of the cover, as the outer diagram will be eroded in time. Currently, both Voyager probes are sailing adrift in the black sea of interplanetary space, having left our solar system years ago.

I'm a vice president at Line6, where we produce electronics for musical instruments. My company recently developed a guitar that can be programmed to sound like twenty-five different classic guitars - everything from a 1928 National 'Tricone' to a 1970 Martin. It is quite an amazing piece of technology. The guitar started as a research project because we needed to know if the technology was going to be viable and if the guitar design was going to be practical. I've been in this business for about twenty years now, and I still enjoy starting up projects whenever the opportunity presents itself. During the research phase, I headed up the project myself. Once we completed our preliminary research and made the decision to move into development, that's when I handed the project off - and that's where this story really begins.

The Exxon Valdez catastrophe, which soiled Alaska`s Prince William Sound in 1989, was the most studied oil spill in history. But because of how they framed their inquiries, investigators have learned less than they could about how nature heals itself. The studies of Exxon and the state of Alaska - including the departments of Fish and Game and of Environmental Conservation - conducted to prove their respective points, were kept largely secret untill legal settlements were reached. This secrecy reduced most of the pillars of science to rubble: out went scientific dialog, data sharing, and for some parties, peer view. Millions of dollars were shelled out in duplicate studies that reached opposite conclusions. Beyond the quality of science lies the public interpretation of science. Even though NOAA has shown that cleaning up can do more harm than good, demands to clean up persist. 7 figs.

Producing a deep bass tone by striking a large 3 m (10 ft) flexible corrugated drainage pipe immediately grabs student attention. The fundamental pitch of the corrugated tube is found to be a semitone lower than a non-corrugated smooth pipe of the same length. A video (https://youtu.be/FU7a9d7N60Y) of the demonstration is included, which illustrates how an Internet keyboard can be used to estimate the fundamental pitches of each pipe. Since both pipes have similar end corrections, the pitch discrepancy between the smooth pipe and drainage tube is due to the corrugations, which lower the speed of sound inside the flexible tube, dropping its pitch a semitone.

The relationship between maternal employment and adolescent development is enormously complex, and no simple generalizations are possible. Many intervening variables alter the impact that maternal employment has on adolescent development. There is an urgent need to discover what impact this arrangement has on adolescent development. (CJ)

Increased maternal age at reproduction is often associated with decreased offspring performance in numerous species of plants and animals (including humans). Current evolutionary theory considers such maternal effect senescence as part of a unified process of reproductive senescence, which is under identical age-specific selective pressures to fertility. We offer a novel theoretical perspective by combining William Hamilton’s evolutionary model for aging with a quantitative genetic model of indirect genetic effects. We demonstrate that fertility and maternal effect senescence are likely to experience different patterns of age-specific selection and thus can evolve to take divergent forms. Applied to neonatal survival, we find that selection for maternal effects is the product of age-specific fertility and Hamilton’s age-specific force of selection for fertility. Population genetic models show that senescence for these maternal effects can evolve in the absence of reproductive or actuarial senescence; this implies that maternal effect aging is a fundamentally distinct demographic manifestation of the evolution of aging. However, brief periods of increasingly beneficial maternal effects can evolve when fertility increases with age faster than cumulative survival declines. This is most likely to occur early in life. Our integration of theory provides a general framework with which to model, measure, and compare the evolutionary determinants of the social manifestations of aging. Extension of our maternal effects model to other ecological and social contexts could provide important insights into the drivers of the astonishing diversity of lifespans and aging patterns observed among species. PMID:26715745

Angiography - right heart ... moved forward into the right side of the heart. As the catheter is advanced, the doctor can ... is injected into the right side of the heart. It helps the cardiologist determine the size and ...

Catheterization - left heart ... to help guide the catheters up into your heart and arteries. Dye (sometimes called "contrast") will be ... in the blood vessels that lead to your heart. The catheter is then moved through the aortic ...

... disease: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines, ... the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Foundation endorsed by the World Heart Federation and ...

... the hearts of humans who have died (cadavers). Angina pectoris The discomfort experienced by individuals when their heart ... performed during symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease angina pectoris , abnormalities may confirm the diagnosis of ischemic heart ...

... gov/ency/patientinstructions/000790.htm Heart disease and depression To use the sharing features on this page, ... a heart attack or heart surgery Signs of Depression It is pretty common to feel down or ...

... About Heart Transplants American Society of Transplantation 1120 Route 73, Suite 200 Mount Laurel, NJ 08054 Phone: ... of heart disease; these patients have no other choice. The best treatment for your heart failure will ...

The physics of sound is often studied in introductory physics class experiments involving a tube of resonating air. In typical setups, pistons control the length of a cylindrical space or a microphone is moved within a tube. While these activities are useful and can be made very quantitative, they don't directly demonstrate the sounds that are…

This lesson, which is most appropriate for kindergartners, reviews letter names and their sounds through a group letter recognition activity, a picture book activity, and alphabet practice with several online activities. During three 30-minute sessions, students will: identify the letters of the alphabet; identify the sounds of letters; identify…

Acoustical engineers use their knowledge of sound to design quiet environments (e.g., classrooms and libraries) as well as to design environments that are supposed to be loud (e.g., concert halls and football stadiums). They also design sound barriers, such as the walls along busy roadways that decrease the traffic noise heard by people in…

Slot machine wins and losses have distinctive, measurable, physiological effects on players. The contributing factors to these effects remain under-explored. We believe that sound is one of these key contributing factors. Sound plays an important role in reinforcement, and thus on arousal level and stress response of players. It is the use of sound for positive reinforcement in particular that we believe influences the player. In the current study, we investigate the role that sound plays in psychophysical responses to slot machine play. A total of 96 gamblers played a slot machine simulator with and without sound being paired with reinforcement. Skin conductance responses and heart rate, as well as subjective judgments about the gambling experience were examined. The results showed that the sound influenced the arousal of participants both psychophysically and psychologically. The sound also influenced players' preferences, with the majority of players preferring to play slot machines that were accompanied by winning sounds. The sounds also caused players to significantly overestimate the number of times they won while playing the slot machine.

Music, with its various elements, such as rhythm, sound and melody had the unique ability even in prehistoric, ancient and medieval times to have a special fascination for humans. Nowadays, it is impossible to eliminate music from our daily lives. We are accompanied by music in shopping arcades, on the radio, during sport or leisure time activities and in wellness therapy. Ritualized drumming was used in the medical sense to drive away evil spirits or to undergo holy enlightenment. Today we experience the varied effects of music on all sensory organs and we utilize its impact on cardiovascular and neurological rehabilitation, during invasive cardiovascular procedures or during physical activities, such as training or work. The results of recent studies showed positive effects of music on heart rate and in therapeutic treatment (e. g. music therapy). This article pursues the impact of music on the body and the heart and takes sports medical aspects from the past and the present into consideration; however, not all forms of music and not all types of musical activity are equally suitable and are dependent on the type of intervention, the sports activity or form of movement and also on the underlying disease. This article discusses the influence of music on the body, pulse, on the heart and soul in the past and the present day.

Current methods for estimating maternal mortality lack precision, and are not suitable for monitoring progress in the short run. In addition, national maternal mortality ratios (MMRs) alone do not provide useful information on where the greatest burden of mortality is located, who is concerned, what are the causes, and more importantly what sub-national variations occur. This paper discusses a maternal death surveillance and response (MDSR) system. MDSR systems are not yet established in most countries and have potential added value for policy making and accountability and can build on existing efforts to conduct maternal death reviews, verbal autopsies and confidential enquiries. Accountability at national and sub-national levels cannot rely on global, regional and national retrospective estimates periodically generated from academia or United Nations organizations but on routine counting, investigation, sub national data analysis, long term investments in vital registration and national health information systems. Establishing effective maternal death surveillance and response will help achieve MDG 5, improve quality of maternity care and eliminate maternal mortality (MMR ≤ 30 per 100,000 by 2030).

Current methods for estimating maternal mortality lack precision, and are not suitable for monitoring progress in the short run. In addition, national maternal mortality ratios (MMRs) alone do not provide useful information on where the greatest burden of mortality is located, who is concerned, what are the causes, and more importantly what sub-national variations occur. This paper discusses a maternal death surveillance and response (MDSR) system. MDSR systems are not yet established in most countries and have potential added value for policy making and accountability and can build on existing efforts to conduct maternal death reviews, verbal autopsies and confidential enquiries. Accountability at national and sub-national levels cannot rely on global, regional and national retrospective estimates periodically generated from academia or United Nations organizations but on routine counting, investigation, sub national data analysis, long term investments in vital registration and national health information systems. Establishing effective maternal death surveillance and response will help achieve MDG 5, improve quality of maternity care and eliminate maternal mortality (MMR ≤ 30 per 100,000 by 2030). PMID:23279882

Background During the cardiac cycle, the heart normally produces repeatable physiological sounds. However, under pathologic conditions, such as with heart valve stenosis or a ventricular septal defect, blood flow turbulence leads to the production of additional sounds, called murmurs. Murmurs are random in nature, while the underlying heartsounds are not (being deterministic). Innovation We show that a new analytical technique, which we call Digital Subtraction Phonocardiography (DSP), can be used to separate the random murmur component of the phonocardiogram from the underlying deterministic heartsounds. Methods We digitally recorded the phonocardiogram from the anterior chest wall in 60 infants and adults using a high-speed USB interface and the program Gold Wave http://www.goldwave.com. The recordings included individuals with cardiac structural disease as well as recordings from normal individuals and from individuals with innocent heart murmurs. Digital Subtraction Analysis of the signal was performed using a custom computer program called Murmurgram. In essence, this program subtracts the recorded sound from two adjacent cardiac cycles to produce a difference signal, herein called a "murmurgram". Other software used included Spectrogram (Version 16), GoldWave (Version 5.55) as well as custom MATLAB code. Results Our preliminary data is presented as a series of eight cases. These cases show how advanced signal processing techniques can be used to separate heartsounds from murmurs. Note that these results are preliminary in that normal ranges for obtained test results have not yet been established. Conclusions Cardiac murmurs can be separated from underlying deterministic heartsounds using DSP. DSP has the potential to become a reliable and economical new diagnostic approach to screening for structural heart disease. However, DSP must be further evaluated in a large series of patients with well-characterized pathology to determine its clinical potential

Effects of sound generated by a dental turbine and a small stream (murmur) and the effects of no sound (null, control) on heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and hemodynamic changes (oxygenated, deoxygenated, and total hemoglobin concentrations) in the frontal cortex were measured in 18 young volunteers. Questionnaires completed by the volunteers were also evaluated. Near-infrared spectroscopy and the Finapres technique were employed to measure hemodynamic and vascular responses, respectively. The subjects assessed the murmur, null, and turbine sounds as "pleasant," "natural," and "unpleasant," respectively. Blood pressures changed in response to the murmur, null, and turbine sound stimuli as expected: lower than the control level, unchanged, and higher than the control level, respectively. Mean blood pressure values tended to increase gradually over the recording time even during the null sound stimulation, possibly because of the recording environment. Oxygenated hemoglobin concentrations decreased drastically in response to the dental turbine sound, while deoxygenated hemoglobin concentrations remained unchanged and thus total hemoglobin concentrations decreased (due to the decreased oxygenated hemoglobin concentrations). Hemodynamic responses to the murmuring sound and the null sound were slight or unchanged, respectively. Surprisingly, heart rate measurements remained fairly stable in response to the stimulatory noises. In conclusion, we demonstrate here that sound generated by a dental turbine may affect cerebral blood flow and metabolism as well as autonomic responses.

We designed an acoustic transistor to manipulate sound in a manner similar to the manipulation of electric current by its electrical counterpart. The acoustic transistor is a three-terminal device with the essential ability to use a small monochromatic acoustic signal to control a much larger output signal within a broad frequency range. The output and controlling signals have the same frequency, suggesting the possibility of cascading the structure to amplify an acoustic signal. Capable of amplifying and switching sound by sound, acoustic transistors have various potential applications and may open the way to the design of conceptual devices such as acoustic logic gates.

... Speech, Language and Swallowing / Disorders and Diseases Speech Sound Disorders: Articulation and Phonological Processes What are speech ... individuals with speech sound disorders ? What are speech sound disorders? Most children make some mistakes as they ...

The maternal and fetal toxicity of benzyl benzoate, commonly used as antiparasitic insecticide, was evaluated in pregnant rats after a daily oral dose of 25 and 100 mg/kg. Biochemical, histopathological, and morphological examinations were performed. Dams were observed for maternal body weights and food and water consumption and subjected to caesarean section on (GD) 20. Maternal and fetal liver, kidney, heart, brain, and placenta were examined histopathologically under light microscope. Maternal and fetal liver and placenta were stained immunohistochemically for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Morphometric analysis of fetal body lengths, placental measurements, and fetal skeletal stainings was performed. Statistically significant alterations in biochemical parameters and placental and skeletal measurements were determined in treatment groups. In addition to histopathological changes, considerable differences were observed in the immunolocalization of VEGF in treatment groups. These results demonstrated that benzyl benzoate and its metabolites can transport to the placenta and eventually enter the fetuses.

A number of soundscape studies have suggested the need for suitable parameters for soundscape measurement, in addition to the conventional acoustic parameters. This paper explores the applicability of pitch features that are often used in music analysis and their algorithms to environmental sounds. Based on the existing alternative pitch algorithms for simulating the perception of the auditory system and simplified algorithms for practical applications in the areas of music and speech, the applicable algorithms have been determined, considering common types of sound in everyday soundscapes. Considering a number of pitch parameters, including pitch value, pitch strength, and percentage of audible pitches over time, different pitch characteristics of various environmental sounds have been shown. Among the four sound categories, i.e. water, wind, birdsongs, and urban sounds, generally speaking, both water and wind sounds have low pitch values and pitch strengths; birdsongs have high pitch values and pitch strengths; and urban sounds have low pitch values and a relatively wide range of pitch strengths.

Despite major improvements in the treatment of virtually all cardiac disorders, heart failure (HF) is an exception, in that its prevalence is rising, and only small prolongations in survival are occurring. An increasing fraction, especially older women with diabetes, obesity, and atrial fibrillation exhibit HF with preserved systolic function. Several pathogenetic mechanisms appear to be operative in HF. These include increased hemodynamic overload, ischemia-related dysfunction, ventricular remodeling, excessive neurohumoral stimulation, abnormal myocyte calcium cycling, excessive or inadequate proliferation of the extracellular matrix, accelerated apoptosis, and genetic mutations. Biomarkers released as a consequence of myocardial stretch, imbalance between formation and breakdown of extracellular matrix, inflammation, and renal failure are useful in the identification of the pathogenetic mechanism and, when used in combination, may become helpful in estimating prognosis and selecting appropriate therapy. Promising new therapies that are now undergoing intensive investigation include an angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor, a naturally-occurring vasodilator peptide, a myofilament sensitizer and several drugs that enhance Ca++ uptake by the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Cell therapy, using autologous bone marrow and cardiac progenitor cells, appears to be promising, as does gene therapy. Chronic left ventricular assistance with continuous flow pumps is being applied more frequently and successfully as destination therapy, as a bridge to transplantation, and even as a bridge to recovery and explantation. While many of these therapies will improve the care of patients with HF, significant reductions in prevalence will require vigorous, multifaceted, preventive approaches.

During the first half of this year (CY 1996), the EUVS project began preparations of the EUVS payload for the upcoming NASA sounding rocket flight 36.148CL, slated for launch on July 26, 1996 to observe and record a high-resolution (approx. 2 A FWHM) EUV spectrum of the planet Venus. These preparations were designed to improve the spectral resolution and sensitivity performance of the EUVS payload as well as prepare the payload for this upcoming mission. The following is a list of the EUVS project activities that have taken place since the beginning of this CY: (1) Applied a fresh, new SiC optical coating to our existing 2400 groove/mm grating to boost its reflectivity; (2) modified the Ranicon science detector to boost its detective quantum efficiency with the addition of a repeller grid; (3) constructed a new entrance slit plane to achieve 2 A FWHM spectral resolution; (4) prepared and held the Payload Initiation Conference (PIC) with the assigned NASA support team from Wallops Island for the upcoming 36.148CL flight (PIC held on March 8, 1996; see Attachment A); (5) began wavelength calibration activities of EUVS in the laboratory; (6) made arrangements for travel to WSMR to begin integration activities in preparation for the July 1996 launch; (7) paper detailing our previous EUVS Venus mission (NASA flight 36.117CL) published in Icarus (see Attachment B); and (8) continued data analysis of the previous EUVS mission 36.137CL (Spica occultation flight).

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a congenital heart condition that occurs during the development of the heart in the ... womb. During the heart's development, parts of the left side of the heart (mitral valve, left ventricle ...

A step-by-step guide to auscultating young athletes helps physicians identify normal heart murmurs as well as sounds that might signify underlying cardiac pathology. Rapid, thorough preparticipation screening can help differentiate athletes who may require treatment or activity restriction from those with normal murmurs who can remain active. (SM)

The question whether there is a natural connection between sound and meaning or if they are related only by convention has been debated since antiquity. In linguistics, it is usually taken for granted that 'the linguistic sign is arbitrary,' and exceptions like onomatopoeia have been regarded as marginal phenomena. However, it is becoming more and more clear that motivated relations between sound and meaning are more common and important than has been thought. There is now a large and rapidly growing literature on subjects as ideophones (or expressives), words that describe how a speaker perceives a situation with the senses, and phonaesthemes, units like English gl-, which occur in many words that share a meaning component (in this case 'light': gleam, glitter, etc.). Furthermore, psychological experiments have shown that sound symbolism in one language can be understood by speakers of other languages, suggesting that some kinds of sound symbolism are universal. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Investigates psychophysiological reactions of 60 women to an infant's cry and to a control sound. The 30-second pain cry evoked greater cardiac and electrodermal activity than did the control stimulus, although selected groups varied in the nature and extent of their reactions. Both maternal state and experience with infants affected reactions.…

Although music and the emotion it conveys unfold over time, little is known about how listeners respond to shifts in musical emotions. A special technique in heavy metal music utilizes dramatic shifts between loud and soft passages. Loud passages are penetrated by distorted sounds conveying aggression, whereas soft passages are often characterized by a clean, calm singing voice and light accompaniment. The present study used heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds to examine how female listeners’ respiration rates and heart rates responded to the arousal changes associated with auditory stimuli. The high-frequency power of heart rate variability (HF-HRV) was used to assess cardiac parasympathetic activity. The results showed that the soft passages of heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds expressed lower arousal and induced significantly higher HF-HRVs than the loud passages of heavy metal songs. Listeners’ respiration rate was determined by the arousal level of the present music passage, whereas the heart rate was dependent on both the present and preceding passages. Compared with soft sea sounds, the loud music passage led to greater deceleration of the heart rate at the beginning of the following soft music passage. The sea sounds delayed the heart rate acceleration evoked by the following loud music passage. The data provide evidence that sound-induced parasympathetic activity affects listeners’ heart rate in response to the following music passage. These findings have potential implications for future research on the temporal dynamics of musical emotions. PMID:26925009

Although music and the emotion it conveys unfold over time, little is known about how listeners respond to shifts in musical emotions. A special technique in heavy metal music utilizes dramatic shifts between loud and soft passages. Loud passages are penetrated by distorted sounds conveying aggression, whereas soft passages are often characterized by a clean, calm singing voice and light accompaniment. The present study used heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds to examine how female listeners' respiration rates and heart rates responded to the arousal changes associated with auditory stimuli. The high-frequency power of heart rate variability (HF-HRV) was used to assess cardiac parasympathetic activity. The results showed that the soft passages of heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds expressed lower arousal and induced significantly higher HF-HRVs than the loud passages of heavy metal songs. Listeners' respiration rate was determined by the arousal level of the present music passage, whereas the heart rate was dependent on both the present and preceding passages. Compared with soft sea sounds, the loud music passage led to greater deceleration of the heart rate at the beginning of the following soft music passage. The sea sounds delayed the heart rate acceleration evoked by the following loud music passage. The data provide evidence that sound-induced parasympathetic activity affects listeners' heart rate in response to the following music passage. These findings have potential implications for future research on the temporal dynamics of musical emotions.

Attachment theory postulates that mothers and their infants possess some basic physiological mechanisms that favor their dyadic interaction and bonding. Many studies have focused on the maternal physiological mechanisms that promote attachment (e.g., mothers' automatic responses to infant faces and/or cries), and relatively less have examined infant physiology. Thus, the physiological mechanisms regulating infant bonding behaviors remain largely undefined. This review elucidates some of the neurobiological mechanisms governing social bonding and cooperation in humans by focusing on maternal carrying and its beneficial effect on mother-infant interaction in mammalian species (e.g., in humans, big cats, and rodents). These studies show that infants have a specific calming response to maternal carrying. A human infant carried by his/her walking mother exhibits a rapid heart rate decrease, and immediately stops voluntary movement and crying compared to when he/she is held in a sitting position. Furthermore, strikingly similar responses were identified in mouse rodents, who exhibit immobility, diminished ultra-sonic vocalizations and heart rate. In general, the studies described in the current review demonstrate the calming effect of maternal carrying to be comprised of a complex set of behavioral and physiological components, each of which has a specific postnatal time window and is orchestrated in a well-matched manner with the maturation of the infants. Such reactions could have been evolutionarily adaptive in mammalian mother-infant interactions. The findings have implications for parenting practices in developmentally normal populations. In addition, we propose that infants' physiological response may be useful in clinical assessments as we discuss possible implications on early screening for child psychopathology (e.g., autism spectrum disorders and perinatal brain disorders).

Congenital complete heart block in utero has become diagnosed more frequently with the clinical use of fetal echocardiography. The fetus with complete heart block may remain asymptomatic or may develop congestive heart failure. Congenital complete heart block is more frequently seen in infants of mothers with systemic lupus erythematosus, both clinically manifested and subclinical systemic lupus erythematosus with positive antibodies (SS-A and SS-B antibodies). At birth, the neonate with complete heart block may remain asymptomatic and may not require a pacemaker to increase the heart rate. The indications for a pacemaker in neonates with complete heart block have been discussed. Both in-utero and neonatal management of congenital complete heart block are discussed to manage congestive heart failure in a fetus. Four patients with congenital complete heart block are presented covering a broad spectrum of clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management both in the fetal and neonatal period. Images Figure 1 PMID:8961692

An apparatus is described for enhancing the resolution of a sound detector of the type which includes an acoustic mirror for focusing sound from an object onto a microphone to enable the determination of the location from which the sound arises. The enhancement apparatus includes an enclosure which surrounds the space between the mirror and microphone, and contains a gas heavier than air, such as Freon, through which sound moves slower and therefore with a shorter wavelength than in air, so that a mirror of given size has greater resolving power. An acoustically transparent front wall of the enclosure which lies forward of the mirror, can include a pair of thin sheets with pressured air between them, to form an end of the region of heavy gas into a concave shape.

The computational limitations of real-time interactive computing do not meet our requirements for producing realistic images for virtual reality in a convincing manner. Regardless of the real-time restrictions on virtual reality interfaces, the representations can be no better than the graphics. Computer graphics is still limited in its ability to generate complex objects such as landscapes and humans. Nevertheless, useful and convincing visualizations are made through a variety of techniques. The central theme of this article is that a similar situation is true with sound for virtual reality. It is beyond our abilityto create interactive soundscapes that create a faithful reproduction of real world sounds, however, by choosing one`s application carefully and using sound to enhance a display rather than only mimic real-world scenes, a very effective use of sound can be made.

The computational limitations of real-time interactive computing do not meet our requirements for producing realistic images for virtual reality in a convincing manner. Regardless of the real-time restrictions on virtual reality interfaces, the representations can be no better than the graphics. Computer graphics is still limited in its ability to generate complex objects such as landscapes and humans. Nevertheless, useful and convincing visualizations are made through a variety of techniques. The central theme of this article is that a similar situation is true with sound for virtual reality. It is beyond our abilityto create interactive soundscapes that create a faithful reproduction of real world sounds, however, by choosing one's application carefully and using sound to enhance a display rather than only mimic real-world scenes, a very effective use of sound can be made.

This paper provides experimental validation of the sound power level data obtained from manufacturers for the ten wind turbine models examined in Health Canada's Community Noise and Health Study (CNHS). Within measurement uncertainty, the wind turbine sound power levels measured using IEC 61400-11 [(2002). (International Electrotechnical Commission, Geneva)] were consistent with the sound power level data provided by manufacturers. Based on measurements, the sound power level data were also extended to 16 Hz for calculation of C-weighted levels. The C-weighted levels were 11.5 dB higher than the A-weighted levels (standard deviation 1.7 dB). The simple relationship between A- and C- weighted levels suggests that there is unlikely to be any statistically significant difference between analysis based on either C- or A-weighted data.

A simple technique has been developed that produces holograms made of sound waves. These acoustic landscapes are used to manipulate microscale objects, and offer great potential in medical imaging and selective heating. See Letter p.518

We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1,975) to examine the association between mothers’ partnership changes and parenting behavior during the first five years of their children’s lives. We compare coresidential with dating transitions, and recent with more distal transitions. We also examine interactions between transitions and race/ethnicity, maternal education and family structure at birth. Findings indicate that both coresidential and dating transitions were associated with higher levels of maternal stress and harsh parenting; recent transitions had stronger associations than distal transitions. Maternal education significantly moderates these associations, with less educated mothers responding more negatively to instability in terms of maternal stress, and more educated mothers responding more negatively in terms of literacy activities. PMID:21423848

Sound or pressure variations inside bounded enclosures are investigated. Mathematical models are given for determining: (1) the interaction between the sound pressure field and the flexible wall of a Helmholtz resonator; (2) coupled fluid-structural motion of an acoustic cavity with a flexible and/or absorbing wall; (3) acoustic natural modes in multiple connected cavities; and (4) the forced response of a cavity with a flexible and/or absorbing wall. Numerical results are discussed.

Active echolocation enables bats to orient and hunt the night sky for insects. As a counter-measure against the severe predation pressure many nocturnal insects have evolved ears sensitive to ultrasonic bat calls. In moths bat-detection was the principal purpose of hearing, as evidenced by comparable hearing physiology with best sensitivity in the bat echolocation range, 20-60 kHz, across moths in spite of diverse ear morphology. Some eared moths subsequently developed sound-producing organs to warn/startle/jam attacking bats and/or to communicate intraspecifically with sound. Not only the sounds for interaction with bats, but also mating signals are within the frequency range where bats echolocate, indicating that sound communication developed after hearing by "sensory exploitation". Recent findings on moth sound communication reveal that close-range (~ a few cm) communication with low-intensity ultrasounds "whispered" by males during courtship is not uncommon, contrary to the general notion of moths predominantly being silent. Sexual sound communication in moths may apply to many eared moths, perhaps even a majority. The low intensities and high frequencies explain that this was overlooked, revealing a bias towards what humans can sense, when studying (acoustic) communication in animals.

Acoustic metamaterials can manipulate and control sound waves in ways that are not possible in conventional materials. Metamaterials with zero, or even negative, refractive index for sound offer new possibilities for acoustic imaging and for the control of sound at subwavelength scales. The combination of transformation acoustics theory and highly anisotropic acoustic metamaterials enables precise control over the deformation of sound fields, which can be used, for example, to hide or cloak objects from incident acoustic energy. Active acoustic metamaterials use external control to create effective material properties that are not possible with passive structures and have led to the development of dynamically reconfigurable, loss-compensating and parity-time-symmetric materials for sound manipulation. Challenges remain, including the development of efficient techniques for fabricating large-scale metamaterial structures and converting laboratory experiments into useful devices. In this Review, we outline the designs and properties of materials with unusual acoustic parameters (for example, negative refractive index), discuss examples of extreme manipulation of sound and, finally, provide an overview of future directions in the field.

When we listen to sounds through headphones without utilizing special transforms, sound sources seem to be located inside our heads. The sound sources are said to be lateralized to one side or the other to varying degree. This internal lateralization is different than sound source localization in the natural environment in which the sound is localized distal to the head. We used fMRI to investigate difference in neural responses between lateralization and localization. Individualized binaural recordings were used as externalized auditory stimuli and stereo recordings were used as internalized auditory stimuli. Brain activity was measured while 14 participants performed an active auditory localization task and while 12 participants performed a stimulus type identification task. Irrespective of the task condition, we observed enhanced activity in the bilateral posterior temporal gyri (pSTG) for the externalized stimuli relative to the internalized stimuli. Region of interest analysis indicated that both left and right pSTG were more sensitive to sound sources in contra- than ipsilateral hemifields. Moreover, greater back than front activity was also found in the left pSTG. Compared to impoverished spatial auditory stimuli, realistic spatial auditory stimuli enhance neural responses in the pSTG. This may be why we could observe contralateral hemifield preference in bilateral pSTG that many previous studies have failed to observe. Overall, the results indicate the importance of using ecologically valid stimuli for investigating neural processes in human cortex.

The authors are responding to a LANCET editorial that asserted that female education, rather than family planning, should be advocated for prevention of maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. Family planning can prevent maternal deaths in 2 ways. The 1st is prevention of pregnancy among women at high risk of complicated pregnancy and delivery, including illegal abortion. The 2nd is simply prevention of pregnancy and, thus, exposure to complications. If only women who say they want no more children had no further births, an estimated 33% of maternal deaths in developing countries would be prevented. In reality, the effect of family planning might well be greater, since it plays an essential part in reducing mortality from illicitly induced abortion. Although improvement of education for Third World women will improve the quality of their lives, it is not likely to reduce maternal mortality. Once pregnant, 10-15% of women will have serious complicatons of pregnancy or delivery, no matter what the setting. The primary responsibility of health professionals is not socioeconomic development but prevention of maternal deaths resulting from lack of effective medical care. Interest in the issue is growing. In February, 1987, the World Bank, with the World Health Organization and the UN Fund for Population Activities, sponsored a meeting in Nairobi to launch the "Safe Motherhood Initiative." This initiative will contain a variety of activities. The authors hope that foremost will be those that act directly to prvent maternal deaths--prevention of unwanted pregnancies and early treatment of complications.

Maternal immunity refers to the immunity transferred from mother to offspring via egg, playing an important role in protecting the offspring at early life stages and contributing a trans-generational effect on offspring's phenotype. Because fertilization is external in most of the molluscs, oocytes and early embryos are directly exposed to pathogens in the seawater, and thus maternal immunity could provide a better protection before full maturation of their immunological systems. Several innate immune factors including pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) like lectins, and immune effectors like lysozyme, lipopolysaccharide binding protein/bacterial permeability-increasing proteins (LBP/BPI) and antioxidant enzymes have been identified as maternally derived immune factors in mollusc eggs. Among these immune factors, some maternally derived lectins and antibacterial factors have been proved to endue mollusc eggs with effective defense ability against pathogen infection, while the roles of other factors still remain untested. The physiological condition of mollusc broodstock has a profound effect on their offspring fitness. Many other factors such as nutrients, pathogens, environment conditions and pollutants could exert considerable influence on the maternal transfer of immunity. The parent molluscs which have encountered an immune stimulation endow their offspring with a trans-generational immune capability to protect them against infections effectively. The knowledge on maternal transfer of immunity and the trans-generational immune effect could provide us with an ideal management strategy of mollusc broodstock to improve the immunity of offspring and to establish a disease-resistant family for a long-term improvement of cultured stocks.

Background. Crisscross heart (CCH) is a complex, rare, congenital, rotational, cardiac abnormality that accounts for <0.1% of congenital heart defects (CHD). CCH is characterized by the crossing of the inflow streams of the two ventricles due to an abnormal twisting of the heart. A case of maternal CCH has not been previously reported. Case. We report a case of a primigravida with a CCH, who was separated at birth from her thoracopagus conjoined twin. Pregnancy was managed by congenital cardiology, maternal-fetal medicine, anesthesiology, and obstetrics. She underwent a 39-week vaginal delivery without maternal or neonatal complication. Conclusion. A successful term pregnancy outcome was achieved in a patient with CCH using a multidisciplinary approach to address her cardiac condition. PMID:26273483

Maternal behavior in mice is considered to be sexually dimorphic; that is, females show maternal care for their offspring, whereas this behavior is rarely shown in males. Here, we examined how social isolation affects the interaction of adult male mice with pups. Three weeks of isolation during puberty (5-8 weeks old) induced retrieving and crouching when exposed to pups, while males with 1 week isolation (7-8 weeks old) also showed such maternal care, but were less responsive to pups. We also examined the effect of isolation during young adulthood (8-11 weeks old), and found an induction of maternal behavior comparable to that in younger male mice. This effect was blocked by exposure to chemosensory and auditory social signals derived from males in an attached compartment separated by doubled opaque barriers. These results demonstrate that social isolation in both puberty and postpuberty facilitates male maternal behavior in sexually naïve mice. The results also indicate that air-borne chemicals and/or sounds of male conspecifics, including ultrasonic vocalization and noise by their movement may be sufficient to interfere with the isolation effect on induction of maternal behavior in male mice.

Using the first nationally representative birth cohort study in Taiwan, this paper examines the role that maternity leave policy in Taiwan plays in the timing of mothers returning to work after giving birth, as well as the extent to which this timing is linked to the amount of time mothers spend with their children and their use of breast milk versus formula. We found that the time when mothers returned to work coincided with the duration of guaranteed leave. In particular, mothers with a labor pension plan resumed work significantly earlier than mothers with no pension plan, and mothers with no pension plan returned to work significantly later than those with pension plans. The short leave of absence guaranteed under existing policies translated into mothers spending less time with their children and being more likely to exclusively use formula by 6 months after birth. In contrast, mothers who resumed work later than 6 months after birth were more likely to have not worked before birth or to have quit their jobs during pregnancy. Implications and recommendations for parental leave policy in Taiwan are discussed. PMID:21603074

Some words are sound-symbolic in that they involve a non-arbitrary relationship between sound and meaning. Here, we report that 25-month-old children are sensitive to cross-linguistically valid sound-symbolic matches in the domain of action and that this sound symbolism facilitates verb learning in young children. We constructed a set of novel…

Sound symbolism is the notion that the relation between word sounds and word meaning is not arbitrary for all words, but rather there is a subset of words in the world's languages for which sounds and their symbols have some degree of correspondence. This research investigates sound symbolism as a possible means of gaining semantic knowledge of…

Non-invasive fetal heart rate is of great relevance in clinical practice to monitor fetal health state during pregnancy. To date, however, despite significant advances in the field of electrocardiography, the analysis of abdominal fetal ECG is considered a challenging problem for biomedical and signal processing communities. This is mainly due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of fetal ECG and difficulties in cancellation of maternal QRS complexes, motion and electromyographic artefacts. In this paper we present an efficient unsupervised algorithm for fetal QRS complex detection from abdominal multichannel signal recordings combining ICA and maternal ECG cancelling, which outperforms each single method. The signal is first pre-processed to remove impulsive artefacts, baseline wandering and power line interference. The following steps are then applied: maternal ECG extraction through independent component analysis (ICA); maternal QRS detection; maternal ECG cancelling through weighted singular value decomposition; enhancing of fetal ECG through ICA and fetal QRS detection. We participated in the Physionet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2013, obtaining the top official scores of the challenge (among 53 teams of participants) of event 1 and event 2 concerning fetal heart rate and fetal interbeat intervals estimation section. The developed algorithms are released as open-source on the Physionet website.

The question of whether one sound beam can interact with another at nonzero angle and scatter nonlinearly generated sound outside the mutual interaction region has been debated since the 1950s. Experimental work on this problem has left the question unresolved. This presentation describes experimental difficulties associated with measuring scattered sound produced by real diffracting primary beams. Optimal conditions for observing scattered sound, as outlined by Berntsen [ital et] [ital al]. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. [bold 86], 1968 (1989)] and by Darvennes and Hamilton [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. [bold 87], 1955 (1990)], are reviewed in relation to the design of our own experiments. Our experiments were performed with either two uniform circular sources in water (megahertz frequencies), or with one circular source and the other a shaded source with lower sidelobes. A variety of primary frequency ratios, interaction angles, and other parameters were considered. Comparison of the primary beam patterns with measured sum and difference frequency field patterns reveals the difficulty in identifying which components of the latter correspond to scattered'' sound. It is concluded that two Gaussian-type sources with exceedingly good sidelobe suppression are needed to perform a reasonable experiment. [Work supported by the Packard Foundation and ONR.] [sup a]Present address: Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Mail Stop D443, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545.

The effects of maternal stress during pregnancy may depend, in part, on the timing in gestation of the occurrence of stress. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of stage of gestation on maternal psychophysiological responses to stress using a standardized laboratory paradigm and on the cortisol response to awakening (CAR). A longitudinal design was employed to quantify maternal psychophysiological stress reactivity [changes in heart rate (HR), blood pressure, salivary cortisol, and psychological distress in response to the trier social stress test (TSST)] and the CAR at approximately 17 and 31 weeks gestation in a sample of 148 women. To account for the possible effects of habituation when being exposed to the same stress protocol twice, a non-pregnant comparison group (CG, N = 36) also underwent these assessments at two time points, with a comparable time interval between the assessments. In both groups, the TSST elicited significant changes in maternal HR, mean arterial pressure, and psychological distress levels but not a significant increase in cortisol levels. Among the pregnant women (pregnant group(PG)), the stressor-induced increases in HR, blood pressure, and psychological distress were significantly lower at the second (31 weeks gestation) compared to the first (17 weeks gestation) assessment of pregnancy (all p < 0.01). The maternal CAR was also significantly attenuated in later compared to earlier gestation (p = 0.003). In the CG, there were no significant differences in psychophysiological stress responses and in the CAR across the two assessments. Among pregnant women there is a progressive attenuation of psychophysiological stress responses with advancing gestation. This attenuation is unlikely to be attributable to habituation. Individual differences in the degree of attenuation of stress responses over gestation may represent a novel marker of stress susceptibility in human pregnancy.

Atrioventricular (AV) block in the neonatal period is a rare disorder. It is frequently associated with underlying structural congenital heart disease and maternal lupus. Presently described is premature baby who developed 2:1 AV block and congestive heart failure due to hypocalcemia. Dramatic clinical improvement was observed following treatment of intravenous 10% calcium gluconate. Therefore, it is suggested that serum calcium level of newborns with AV block and congestive heart failure be measured.

Tracheal sounds have received a lot of attention for estimating ventilation parameters in a non-invasive way. The aim of this work was to examine the feasibility of extracting accurate airflow, and automating the detection of breath-phase onset and respiratory rates all directly from tracheal sounds acquired from an acoustic microphone connected to a smartphone. We employed the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 4s smartphones to acquire tracheal sounds from N = 9 healthy volunteers at airflows ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 L/s. We found that the amplitude of the smartphone-acquired sounds was highly correlated with the airflow from a spirometer, and similar to previously-published studies, we found that the increasing tracheal sounds' amplitude as flow increases follows a power law relationship. Acquired tracheal sounds were used for breath-phase onset detection and their onsets differed by only 52 ± 51 ms (mean ± SD) for Galaxy S4, and 51 ± 48 ms for iPhone 4s, when compared to those detected from the reference signal via the spirometer. Moreover, it was found that accurate respiratory rates (RR) can be obtained from tracheal sounds. The correlation index, bias and limits of agreement were r2 = 0.9693, 0.11 (−1.41 to 1.63) breaths-per-minute (bpm) for Galaxy S4, and r2 = 0.9672, 0.097 (–1.38 to 1.57) bpm for iPhone 4s, when compared to RR estimated from spirometry. Both smartphone devices performed similarly, as no statistically-significant differences were found. PMID:25196108

We criticize a view of maternity that equates the natural with the genetic and biological and show how such a practice overdetermines the maternal body and the maternal experience for women who are mothers through adoption and ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies). As an alternative, we propose a new framework designed to rethink maternal bodies through the lens of feminist embodiment. Feminist embodied maternity, as we call it, stresses the particularity of experience through subjective embodiment. A feminist embodied maternity emphasizes the physical relations of the subjective lived-body rather than the genetic or biological connections. Instead of universalizing claims about the maternal body, embodied maternity looks to communicable experiences and empathetic understanding.

of sound . The value for the speed of sound varies depending on the medium which the sound wave travels through as well as the temperature and...Characterizing and Classifying Acoustical Ambient Sound Profiles THESIS MARCH 2015 Paul T. Gaski, Second Lieutenant, USAF AFIT-ENS-MS-15-M-122... SOUND PROFILES THESIS Presented to the Faculty Department of Operational Sciences Graduate School of Engineering and Management Air Force Institute of

Sounds are an integral and sometimes annoying part of our daily life. Virtual worlds which imitate natural environments gain a lot of authenticity from fast, high quality visualization combined with sound effects. Sounds help to increase the degree of immersion for human dwellers in imaginary worlds significantly. The virtual reality toolkit of IGD (Institute for Computer Graphics) features a broad range of standard visual and advanced real-time audio components which interpret an object-oriented definition of the scene. The virtual reality system 'Virtual Design' realized with the toolkit enables the designer of virtual worlds to create a true audiovisual environment. Several examples on video demonstrate the usage of the audio features in Virtual Design.

In maternal diabetes, the fetal heart can be structurally and functionally affected. Maternal diets enriched in certain unsaturated fatty acids can activate the nuclear receptors peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) and regulate metabolic and anti-inflammatory pathways during development. Our aim was to investigate whether PPARα expression, lipid metabolism, lipoperoxidation, and nitric oxide (NO) production are altered in the fetal hearts of diabetic rats, and to analyze the putative effects of in vivo PPAR activation on these parameters. We found decreased PPARα expression in the hearts of male but not female fetuses of diabetic rats when compared with controls. Fetal treatments with the PPARα ligand leukotriene B4 upregulated the expression of PPARα and target genes involved in fatty acid oxidation in the fetal hearts. Increased concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and phospholipids were found in the hearts of fetuses of diabetic rats. Maternal treatments with diets supplemented with 6% olive oil or 6% safflower oil, enriched in unsaturated fatty acids that can activate PPARs, led to few changes in lipid concentrations, but up-regulated PPARα expression in fetal hearts. NO production, which was increased in the hearts of male and female fetuses in the diabetic group, and lipoperoxidation, which was increased in the hearts of male fetuses in the diabetic group, was reduced by the maternal treatments supplemented with safflower oil. In conclusion, impaired PPARα expression, altered lipid metabolism, and increased oxidative and nitridergic pathways were evidenced in hearts of fetuses of diabetic rats and were regulated in a gender-dependent manner by treatments enriched with PPAR ligands.

Acoustic Oscillations in Solar-Twin "Alpha Cen A" Observed from La Silla by Swiss Team Summary Sound waves running through a star can help astronomers reveal its inner properties. This particular branch of modern astrophysics is known as "asteroseismology" . In the case of our Sun, the brightest star in the sky, such waves have been observed since some time, and have greatly improved our knowledge about what is going on inside. However, because they are much fainter, it has turned out to be very difficult to detect similar waves in other stars. Nevertheless, tiny oscillations in a solar-twin star have now been unambiguously detected by Swiss astronomers François Bouchy and Fabien Carrier from the Geneva Observatory, using the CORALIE spectrometer on the Swiss 1.2-m Leonard Euler telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory. This telescope is mostly used for discovering exoplanets (see ESO PR 07/01 ). The star Alpha Centauri A is the nearest star visible to the naked eye, at a distance of a little more than 4 light-years. The new measurements show that it pulsates with a 7-minute cycle, very similar to what is observed in the Sun . Asteroseismology for Sun-like stars is likely to become an important probe of stellar theory in the near future. The state-of-the-art HARPS spectrograph , to be mounted on the ESO 3.6-m telescope at La Silla, will be able to search for oscillations in stars that are 100 times fainter than those for which such demanding observations are possible with CORALIE. PR Photo 23a/01 : Oscillations in a solar-like star (schematic picture). PR Photo 23b/01 : Acoustic spectrum of Alpha Centauri A , as observed with CORALIE. Asteroseismology: listening to the stars ESO PR Photo 23a/01 ESO PR Photo 23a/01 [Preview - JPEG: 357 x 400 pix - 96k] [Normal - JPEG: 713 x 800 pix - 256k] [HiRes - JPEG: 2673 x 3000 pix - 2.1Mb Caption : PR Photo 23a/01 is a graphical representation of resonating acoustic waves in the interior of a solar-like star. Red and blue

Tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure during pregnancy are linked to a host of deleterious effects on the pregnancy, fetus, and infant. Health outcomes improve when women quit smoking at any time during the pregnancy. However, the developing heart is vulnerable to noxious stimuli in the early weeks of fetal development, a time when many women are not aware of being pregnant. Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defects. Research shows an association between maternal tobacco exposure, both active and passive, and congenital heart defects. This article presents recent evidence supporting the association between intrauterine cigarette smoke exposure in the periconceptional period and congenital heart defects and discusses clinical implications for practice for perinatal and neonatal nurses.

Free-field sound localization experiments generally assume that a loudspeaker can be approximated by a point-source; however, a large loudspeaker may extend beyond the width that two sources can be discriminated. Humans can accurately discriminate sound source locations within a few degrees, thus one might expect localization precision to decrease as a function of sound source diameter, much as precision is lower for localizing the center of a wide, blurry light source. In order to test the degree to which humans differentially localize small and large sound sources, auditory targets were presented using a single 25.4 cm by 10.2 cm elliptical loudspeaker with the primary axis oriented both horizontally and vertically in different sessions. Subjects were seated with their heads fixed by a bite bar in a darkened, echo-attenuating room facing a cylindrical, acoustically transparent screen at a distance of 2 meters. Auditory targets consisted of repeating bursts (5 Hz) of low frequency band-pass noise (0.2 - 1 kHz, 75 dB SPL). Subjects were instructed to quickly and accurately guide a laser pointer mounted on a cylindrical joystick towards targets, presented randomly within a field ± 40° in azimuth by ± 10° in elevation, with oversampled points located every ten degrees along the primary meridians. Localization accuracy and precision (mean and standard deviation of localization error at oversampled locations) were not significantly different between speaker orientations, and were comparable to baseline measurements recorded using a 7.6 cm circular speaker. We conclude that low frequency sound localization performance is not dependent upon the size of the sound source as predicted theoretically, and is well approximated by a point source.

Maternal mental illness is a significant public health concern, with established adverse outcomes on both mother and infant, such as impaired mother-infant bonding and infant cognitive and emotional development. In severe cases, maternal mortality and infanticide can tragically occur. This is a report on the suicide of a mother who jumped to her death at three months postpartum. She suffered from puerperal psychosis with bipolar features, with onset at six weeks postpartum. The case highlights the burden of maternal mental illness in our community as well as the need for resources and services to care well for mothers. With a better understanding of its presentation and risk factors, early identification and intervention can reduce morbidity and mortality.

Heart failure (HF) in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) is vastly different to that observed in acquired heart disease. Unlike acquired HF in which pharmacological strategies are the cornerstone for protecting and improving ventricular function, ACHD-related HF relies heavily upon structural and other interventions to achieve these aims. patients with ACHD constitute a small percentage of the total adult heart transplant population (∼3%), although the number of ACHD heart transplant recipients is growing rapidly with a 40% increase over the last two decades. The worldwide experience to date has confirmed heart transplantation as an effective life-extending treatment option in carefully selected patients with ACHD with end-stage cardiac disease. Opportunities for improving outcomes in patients with ACHD-related HF include (i) earlier recognition and referral to centres with combined expertise in ACHD and HF, (ii) increased awareness of arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death risk in this population, (iii) greater collaboration between HF and ACHD specialists at the time of heart transplant assessment, (iv) expert surgical planning to reduce ischaemic time and bleeding risk at the time of transplant, (v) tailored immunosuppression in the post-transplant period and (vi) development and validation of ACHD-specific risk scores to predict mortality and guide patient selection. The purpose of this article is to review current approaches to diagnosing and treating advanced HF in patients with ACHD including indications, contraindications and clinical outcomes after heart transplantation.

In this paper, a time-frequency spectral analysis software (HeartSound Analyzer) for the computer-aided analysis of cardiac sounds has been developed with LabVIEW. Software modules reveal important information for cardiovascular disorders, it can also assist to general physicians to come up with more accurate and reliable diagnosis at early stages. Heartsound analyzer (HSA) software can overcome the deficiency of expert doctors and help them in rural as well as urban clinics and hospitals. HSA has two main blocks: data acquisition and preprocessing, time-frequency spectral analyses. The heartsounds are first acquired using a modified stethoscope which has an electret microphone in it. Then, the signals are analysed using the time-frequency/scale spectral analysis techniques such as STFT, Wigner-Ville distribution and wavelet transforms. HSA modules have been tested with real heartsounds from 35 volunteers and proved to be quite efficient and robust while dealing with a large variety of pathological conditions.

Background: Over the past 10 years, research into environmental risk factors for autism has grown dramatically, bringing evidence that an array of non-genetic factors acting during the prenatal period may influence neurodevelopment. Methods: This paper reviews the evidence on modifiable preconception and/or prenatal factors that have been associated, in some studies, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including nutrition, substance use and exposure to environmental agents. This review is restricted to human studies with at least 50 cases of ASD, having a valid comparison group, conducted within the past decade and focusing on maternal lifestyle or environmental chemicals. Results: Higher maternal intake of certain nutrients and supplements has been associated with reduction in ASD risk, with the strongest evidence for periconceptional folic acid supplements. Although many investigations have suggested no impact of maternal smoking and alcohol use on ASD, more rigorous exposure assessment is needed. A number of studies have demonstrated significant increases in ASD risk with estimated exposure to air pollution during the prenatal period, particularly for heavy metals and particulate matter. Little research has assessed other persistent and non-persistent organic pollutants in association with ASD specifically. Conclusions: More work is needed to examine fats, vitamins and other maternal nutrients, as well as endocrine-disrupting chemicals and pesticides, in association with ASD, given sound biological plausibility and evidence regarding other neurodevelopmental deficits. The field can be advanced by large-scale epidemiological studies, attention to critical aetiological windows and how these vary by exposure, and use of biomarkers and other means to understand underlying mechanisms. PMID:24518932

... Disease Venous Thromboembolism Aortic Aneurysm More Inflammation and Heart Disease Updated:Oct 12,2016 Understand the risks of ... inflammation causes cardiovascular disease, inflammation is common for heart disease and stroke patients and is thought to be ...

... into your blood and travels to your heart. Nuclear heart scans use single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) to detect the energy from the tracer to make pictures of your ...

... Treatment can include medicines, catheter procedures, surgery, and heart transplants. The treatment depends on the type of the defect, how severe it is, and a child's age, size, and general health. NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

... of body fat based on height and weight), waist circumference, blood sugar and weight. The telephone survey of ... for heart health. Just 36 percent knew that waist circumference is important measure of heart disease risk. The ...

... syndromes: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on practice guidelines. ... disease: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on practice ...

... conditions that make open-heart surgery very risky. Arrhythmia Treatment An arrhythmia (ah-RITH-me-ah) is a problem with ... rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, ...

... the heart. Most heart tumors are metastatic cancer. Did You Know... Noncancerous tumors can be as deadly ... slow the tumor's growth. Resources In This Article Did You Know 1 Did You Know... Table 2 ...

... Your heart is at the center of your circulatory system. This system consists of a network of blood ... the walls contract, blood is pumped into your circulatory system. Inlet and outlet valves in your heart chambers ...

... Venous Thromboembolism Aortic Aneurysm More The Heart and Stroke Encyclopedia Click a letter below to get a ... dozens of cardiovascular terms from our Heart and Stroke Encyclopedia and get links to in-depth information. ...

... called plaque. This slow process is known as atherosclerosis . When a plaque in a heart artery breaks, ... called plaque. This slow process is known as atherosclerosis . When a plaque in a heart artery breaks, ...

... medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000166.htm Pericarditis - after heart attack To use the sharing features on this page, ... occur in the days or weeks following a heart attack . Causes Two types of pericarditis can occur after ...

Heart failure is a disease with several definitions. The term "heart failure" is used by has brougth about confusion in the terminology. For this reason, the value of the ejection fraction (< 0.40 or < 0.35) is used in most meganalyses on the treatment of heart failure, avoiding the term "heart failure" that is a confounding concept. In this paper we carefully analyze the meaning of contractility, ventricular function or performance, preload, afterload, heart failure, compensation mechanisms in heart failure, myocardial oxygen consumption, inadequate, adequate and inappropriate hypertrophy, systole, diastole, compliance, problems of relaxation, and diastolic dysfunction. Their definitions are supported by the original scientific descriptions in an attempt to clarify the concepts about ventricular function and heart failure and, in this way, use the same scientific language about the meaning of ventricular function, heart failure, and diastolic dysfunction.

Preterm delivery increases the risk of inadequate systemic blood flow and hypotension, and many preterm infants fail to respond to conventional inotrope treatments. If the profile of cardiac adrenoceptor subtypes in the preterm neonate is different to that at term this may contribute to these clinical problems. This study measured mRNA expression of β1, β2, α1A, α2A and α2B-adrenoceptor subtypes by real time PCR in term (113d), preterm (91d) and preterm piglets (91d) exposed to maternal glucocorticoid treatment. Abundance of β-adrenoceptor binding sites in the left ventricle was measured using saturation binding assays. Relative abundance of β1-adrenoceptor mRNA in untreated preterm hearts was ∼50% of term abundance in both left and right ventricles (P<0.001). Trends in receptor binding site density measurements supported this observation (P = 0.07). Glucocorticoid exposure increased β1-adrenoceptor mRNA levels in the right ventricle of preterm hearts (P = 0.008) but did not alter expression in the left ventricle (P>0.1). Relative abundance of α1A-adrenoceptor mRNA was the same in preterm and term piglet hearts (P = >0.1) but was reduced by maternal glucocorticoid treatment (P<0.01); α2A-adrenoceptor mRNA abundance was higher in untreated and glucocorticoid exposed preterm piglet hearts than in term piglets (P<0.001). There was no difference between male and female piglets in mRNA abundance of any of the genes studied. In conclusion, there is reduced mRNA abundance of β1-adrenoceptors in the preterm pig heart. If this lower expression of β-adrenoceptors occurs in human preterm infants, it could explain their poor cardiovascular function and their frequent failure to respond to commonly used inotropes. PMID:24670668

In early tetrapods, it is assumed that the tympana were acoustically coupled through the pharynx and therefore inherently directional, acting as pressure difference receivers. The later closure of the middle ear cavity in turtles, archosaurs, and mammals is a derived condition, and would have changed the ear by decoupling the tympana. Isolation of the middle ears would then have led to selection for structural and neural strategies to compute sound source localization in both archosaurs and mammalian ancestors. In the archosaurs (birds and crocodilians) the presence of air spaces in the skull provided connections between the ears that have been exploited to improve directional hearing, while neural circuits mediating sound localization are well developed. In this review, we will focus primarily on directional hearing in crocodilians, where vocalization and sound localization are thought to be ecologically important, and indicate important issues still awaiting resolution. PMID:26048335

We provide theoretical and numerical analyses of the behavior of a plate-type acoustic metamaterial considered in an air-borne sound environment in view of sound mitigation application. Two configurations of plate are studied, a spring-mass one and a pillar system-based one. The acoustic performances of the considered systems are investigated with different approaches and show that a high sound transmission loss (STL) up to 82 dB is reached with a metamaterial plate with a thickness of 0.5 mm. The physical understanding of the acoustic behavior of the metamaterial partition is discussed based on both air-borne and structure-borne approaches. Confrontation between the STL, the band structure, the displacement fields and the effective mass density of the plate metamaterial is made to have a complete physical understanding of the different mechanisms involved.

The linearized equations describing the propagation of sound in variable area ducts containing flow are shown to be singular when the duct mean flow is sonic. The singularity is removed when previously ignored nonlinear terms are retained. The results of a numerical study, for the case of plane waves propagating in a one-dimensional converging-diverging duct, show that the sound field is adequately described by the linearized equations only when the axial mean flow Mach number at the duct throat M sub th 0.6. For M sub th 0.6, the numerical results showed that acoustic energy flux was not conserved. An attempt was made to extend the study to include the nonlinear behavior of the sound field. Meaningful results were not obtained due, primarily, to numerical difficulties.

In early tetrapods, it is assumed that the tympana were acoustically coupled through the pharynx and therefore inherently directional, acting as pressure difference receivers. The later closure of the middle ear cavity in turtles, archosaurs, and mammals is a derived condition, and would have changed the ear by decoupling the tympana. Isolation of the middle ears would then have led to selection for structural and neural strategies to compute sound source localization in both archosaurs and mammalian ancestors. In the archosaurs (birds and crocodilians) the presence of air spaces in the skull provided connections between the ears that have been exploited to improve directional hearing, while neural circuits mediating sound localization are well developed. In this review, we will focus primarily on directional hearing in crocodilians, where vocalization and sound localization are thought to be ecologically important, and indicate important issues still awaiting resolution.

Photogates are probably the most commonly used electronic instruments to aid experiments in the field of mechanics. Although they are offered by many manufacturers, they can be too expensive to be widely used in all classrooms, in multiple experiments or even at home experimentation. Today all computers have a sound card--an interface for analogue signals. It is possible to make very simple yet highly accurate photogates for cents, while much more sophisticated solutions are also available at a still very low cost. In our paper we show several experimentally tested ways of implementing sound card photogates in detail, and we also provide full-featured, free, open-source photogate software as a much more efficient experimentation tool than the usually used sound recording programs. Further information is provided on a dedicated web page, www.noise.physx.u-szeged.hu/edudev.

Environmental factors such as ambient air pollution have been associated with congenital heart defects. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between gestational exposure to air pollution and the risk of congenital heart defects. We conducted a registry-based cohort study with a total of 135,527 live- and still-births in the Tel-Aviv region during 2000-2006. We used a Geographic Information System-based spatiotemporal approach with weekly inverse distance weighting modeling to evaluate associations between gestational exposure to ambient air pollution during weeks 3-8 of pregnancy and the risk for congenital heart defects. The following pollutants were studied: carbon monoxide, nitrogen-dioxide, ozone, sulfur-dioxide and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 μm and 2.5 μm (PM10, PM2.5 respectively). Logistic models, adjusted for socio-demographic covariates were used to evaluate the associations. We found that maternal exposure to increased concentrations of PM10 was associated with multiple congenital heart defects (adjusted OR 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.10 for 10 μg/m(3) increment). An inverse association was observed between concentrations of PM2.5 and isolated patent ductus arteriosus (adjusted OR 0.78, 95% CI: 0.68 to 0.91 for 5 µg/m(3) increment). Sensitivity analyses showed that results were consistent. Generally there were no evidence for an association between gaseous air pollutants and congenital heart defects.Our results for PM10 and congenital heart defects confirm results from previous studies. The results for PM2.5 need further investigations.

The objective of the present study was to estimate heritabilities for ascites-related traits in broilers and to assess the importance of maternal genetic effects for these traits. Several traits related to ascites were measured on more than 4,000 broilers kept under cold conditions. Heritabilities were estimated using an animal model with a direct genetic effect and a model with direct and maternal genetic effects. Estimated heritabilities from the direct genetic effects model were 0.46 for hematocrit value, 0.42 for BW, 0.47 for right ventricular weight, 0.46 for total ventricular weight, 0.45 for ratio of right ventricular weight to the total ventricular weight, 0.32 for total mortality, and 0.18 for fluid accumulation in the heart sac. Maternal effects significantly influenced the traits BW, total ventricular weight, and total mortality. Direct and maternal heritabilities, respectively, for BW were 0.21 and 0.04, for total ventricular weights were 0.29 and 0.03, and for total mortality were 0.16 and 0.05. The heritability estimates for ascites-related traits and the significance of maternal genetic effects for most of these traits indicate that direct and maternal genetic effects play an important role in the development of the ascites syndrome.

In addition to immediate implications for pregnancy complications, increasing evidence implicates maternal obesity as a major determinant of offspring health during childhood and later adult life. Observational studies provide evidence for effects of maternal obesity on her offspring's risks of obesity, coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and asthma. Maternal obesity could also lead to poorer cognitive performance and increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including cerebral palsy. Preliminary evidence suggests potential implications for immune and infectious-disease-related outcomes. Insights from experimental studies support causal effects of maternal obesity on offspring outcomes, which are mediated at least partly through changes in epigenetic processes, such as alterations in DNA methylation, and perhaps through alterations in the gut microbiome. Although the offspring of obese women who lose weight before pregnancy have a reduced risk of obesity, few controlled intervention studies have been done in which maternal obesity is reversed and the consequences for offspring have been examined. Because the long-term effects of maternal obesity could have profound public health implications, there is an urgent need for studies on causality, underlying mechanisms, and effective interventions to reverse the epidemic of obesity in women of childbearing age and to mitigate consequences for offspring.

exposures of ’ssh.ite mica, various insects and bacteria to the intense, sound field» %£te " mice are killed in osae minute» The killing lias been...tensity sound on a species of sporeforming bacteria » It is possible to obtain very high intensities in water in a flask.;Suspend’ed over the siren...hinges and closure are standard refrigerator~type units» There i3 a double sponge rubber seal around the doors« Electrical connection to

The Fall 2002 Idea Book contains suggestions for enriched learning. "Save Our History; Save Our Sounds,""Eureka!" and "Lindbergh Flies Again" involve two or more disciplines of study and would work well for team-teaching projects . Lesson materials from the Arts and Entertainment Network teacher's guide are:…

A multisensory sound lab has been developed at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (District of Columbia). A special floor allows vibrations to be felt, and a spectrum analyzer displays frequencies and harmonics visually. The lab is used for science education, auditory training, speech therapy, music and dance instruction, and relaxation…

In conventional near-field acoustic holography (NAH) it is not possible to distinguish between sound from the two sides of the array, thus, it is a requirement that all the sources are confined to only one side and radiate into a free field. When this requirement cannot be fulfilled, sound field separation techniques make it possible to distinguish between outgoing and incoming waves from the two sides, and thus NAH can be applied. In this paper, a separation method based on the measurement of the particle velocity in two layers and another method based on the measurement of the pressure and the velocity in a single layer are proposed. The two methods use an equivalent source formulation with separate transfer matrices for the outgoing and incoming waves, so that the sound from the two sides of the array can be modeled independently. A weighting scheme is proposed to account for the distance between the equivalent sources and measurement surfaces and for the difference in magnitude between pressure and velocity. Experimental and numerical studies have been conducted to examine the methods. The double layer velocity method seems to be more robust to noise and flanking sound than the combined pressure-velocity method, although it requires an additional measurement surface. On the whole, the separation methods can be useful when the disturbance of the incoming field is significant. Otherwise the direct reconstruction is more accurate and straightforward.

source categorization, acoustics , psychophysics 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT UU 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 28 19a...multifaceted problem. To move from conceptualization to implementation, experts in psychology, acoustics , linguistics, software engineering, and user...collection of individual descriptive acoustic features but are defined by the listener in the context of the event that produced the sound they are

Brain development is largely shaped by early sensory experience. However, it is currently unknown whether, how early, and to what extent the newborn’s brain is shaped by exposure to maternalsounds when the brain is most sensitive to early life programming. The present study examined this question in 40 infants born extremely prematurely (between 25- and 32-wk gestation) in the first month of life. Newborns were randomized to receive auditory enrichment in the form of audio recordings of maternalsounds (including their mother’s voice and heartbeat) or routine exposure to hospital environmental noise. The groups were otherwise medically and demographically comparable. Cranial ultrasonography measurements were obtained at 30 ± 3 d of life. Results show that newborns exposed to maternalsounds had a significantly larger auditory cortex (AC) bilaterally compared with control newborns receiving standard care. The magnitude of the right and left AC thickness was significantly correlated with gestational age but not with the duration of sound exposure. Measurements of head circumference and the widths of the frontal horn (FH) and the corpus callosum (CC) were not significantly different between the two groups. This study provides evidence for experience-dependent plasticity in the primary AC before the brain has reached full-term maturation. Our results demonstrate that despite the immaturity of the auditory pathways, the AC is more adaptive to maternalsounds than environmental noise. Further studies are needed to better understand the neural processes underlying this early brain plasticity and its functional implications for future hearing and language development. PMID:25713382

... in a pocket, or hung around your neck. Nuclear Heart Scan A nuclear heart scan shows how well blood is flowing ... blood is reaching your heart muscle. During a nuclear heart scan, a safe, radioactive substance called a ...

... and genetics may play a role. Why congenital heart disease resurfaces in adulthood Some adults may find that ... in following adults with congenital heart disease. Congenital heart disease and pregnancy Women with congenital heart disease who ...

... page from the NHLBI on Twitter. Living With Heart Valve Disease Heart valve disease is a lifelong condition. However, ... all of your medicines as prescribed. Pregnancy and Heart Valve Disease Mild or moderate heart valve disease during pregnancy ...

... Heart disease and stroke prevention Heart Health and Stroke Heart disease and stroke prevention Related information Learn more about healthy eating ... to top More information on Heart disease and stroke prevention Read more from womenshealth.gov A Lifetime ...

... from the NHLBI on Twitter. Life After a Heart Attack Many people survive heart attacks and live active, ... a few weeks. Anxiety and Depression After a Heart Attack After a heart attack, many people worry about ...

... from the NHLBI on Twitter. What Is a Heart Attack? Español A heart attack happens when the flow ... This Content: NEXT >> Featured Video What is a heart attack? 05/22/2014 Describes how a heart attack ...

ANSWERS by heart Treatments + Tests What Happens After Heart Surgery? What are the ICU and CCU? In a ... doctors. This is where patients go after open-heart surgery or a heart attack. You’re watched around ...

... United States, 1 in 4 women dies from heart disease. The most common cause of heart disease in both men and women is narrowing ... the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart itself. This is called coronary artery disease, and ...

This article challenges coaches to address the more personal, human elements of coaching--the HEART of coaching. While there is much research on numerous aspects of coaching, this article provides ideas that make a lasting impact on the hearts of athletes. Using HEART as an acronym, five elements of effective coaching are presented: Humility,…

Your heart has four valves. Normally, these valves open to let blood flow through or out of your heart, and then shut to keep it from flowing ... close tightly. It's one of the most common heart valve conditions. Sometimes it causes regurgitation. Stenosis - when ...

Despite student interest, the heart is often a poorly understood topic in biology. To help students understand this vital organ's physiology, the author created this investigation activity involving the mammalian heart and its role in the circulatory system. Students design, build, and demonstrate working artificial "hearts" to exhibit what they…

Heart bypass surgery begins with an incision made in the chest, with the breastbone cut exposing the heart. Next, a portion of the saphenous vein is ... used to bypass the blocked arteries in the heart. The venous graft is sewn to the aorta ...

This book contains 28 chapters. Some of the titles are: Computed tomography of neoplastic disease of the pericardium; Radiation therapy and the heart; Valvular involvement in cancer; Smoking, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease; Carcinoid heart disease; Cardiac amyloidosis; and Anemia of cancer and its cardiac effects.

Objective To identify factors associated with maternal death in patients admitted to an intensive care unit. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in a maternal intensive care unit. All medical records of patients admitted from January 2012 to December 2014 were reviewed. Pregnant and puerperal women were included; those with diagnoses of hydatidiform mole, ectopic pregnancy, or anembryonic pregnancy were excluded, as were patients admitted for non-obstetrical reasons. Death and hospital discharge were the outcomes subjected to comparative analysis. Results A total of 373 patients aged 13 to 45 years were included. The causes for admission to the intensive care unit were hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, followed by heart disease, respiratory failure, and sepsis; complications included acute kidney injury (24.1%), hypotension (15.5%), bleeding (10.2%), and sepsis (6.7%). A total of 28 patients died (7.5%). Causes of death were hemorrhagic shock, multiple organ failure, respiratory failure, and sepsis. The independent risk factors associated with death were acute kidney injury (odds ratio [OR] = 6.77), hypotension (OR = 15.08), and respiratory failure (OR = 3.65). Conclusion The frequency of deaths was low. Acute kidney injury, hypotension, and respiratory insufficiency were independent risk factors for maternal death. PMID:28099637

This paper studies people's perception of sound, based on an intensive questionnaire survey in fourteen urban open public spaces of five European countries. The questionnaire includes identification of recognized sounds, classification of sound preference, and indication of wanted and unwanted sounds. The results indicate three facets to people's sound preferences. First, people generally prefer natural and culture-related sounds rather than artificial sounds. Vehicle sounds and construction sounds are regarded as the most unpopular, whereas sounds from human activities are normally rated as neutral. Second, cultural background and long-term environmental experience play an important role in people's judgment of sound preference. People from a similar environment may show a similar tendency on their sound preferences, which can be defined as macro-preference. Third, personal differences, such as age and gender, further influence people's sound preference, which can be defined as micro-preference. For example, with increasing age, a higher percentage of people are favorable to, or tolerate, sounds relating to nature, culture or human activities. Male and female exhibit only slight differences. [Work supported by the European Commission.

This study aimed to determine 1) whether certain background sounds can be matched with specific odors and 2) whether the background sounds can increase pleasantness for their congruent odors. In Experiment 1, congruent sounds increased odor pleasantness, but not odor intensity, significantly more than incongruent sounds. Experiment 2 demonstrated that certain background sounds can be paired with specific odors. For example, cinnamon, clove, and orange odors were rated significantly more congruent with a Christmas carol compared with the sound of brushing teeth and/or the beach sound. The congruent sounds increased odor pleasantness significantly more than incongruent sounds. Similarly, the congruent sound-induced odor pleasantness was observed in Experiment 3. As participants judged the pair of odor and sound to be more congruent, they rated the odor significantly more pleasant. Congruent sound assisted participants in identifying and in being familiar with the odor, thereby leading to an increase in odor pleasantness. However, the congruent sound-induced odor pleasantness was not obtained in all odors. In conclusion, this study provides new empirical evidence that pleasantness ratings for odors can increase in the presence of their congruent sounds.

Experiments are conducted in the Arizona State University Unsteady Wind Tunnel with a zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate model that has a 67:1 elliptical leading edge. Boundary-layer measurements are made of the streamwise fluctuating-velocity component in order to identify the amplified T-S waves that are forced by downstream-travelling, sound waves. Measurements are taken with circular 3-D roughness elements placed at the Branch 1 neutral stability point for the frequency under consideration, and then with the roughness element downstream of Branch 1. These roughness elements have a principal chord dimension equal to 2(lambda)(sub TS)/pi, of the T-S waves under study and are 'stacked' in order to resemble a Gaussian height distribution. Measurements taken just downstream of the roughness (with leading-edge T-S waves, surface roughness T-S waves, instrumentation sting vibrations and the Stokes wave subtracted) show the generation of 3-D-T-S waves, but not in the characteristic heart-shaped disturbance field predicted by 3-D asymptotic theory. Maximum disturbance amplitudes are found on the roughness centerline. However, some near-field characteristics predicted by numerical modelling are observed.

Experiments are conducted in the Arizona State University Unsteady Wind Tunnel with a zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate model that has a 67:1 elliptical leading edge. Boundary-layer measurements are made of the streamwise fluctuating-velocity component in order to identify the amplified T-S waves that are forced by downstream-traveling sound waves. Measurements are taken with circular 3-D roughness elements placed at the Branch 1 neutral stability point for the frequency under consideration, and then with the roughness element downstream of Branch 1. These roughness elements have a principal chord dimension equal to 2 lambda(sub TS)/pi of the T-S waves under study and are 'stacked' in order to resemble a Gaussian height distribution. Measurements taken just downstream of the roughness (with leading-edge T-S waves, surface roughness T-S waves, instrumentation sting vibrations, and the Stokes wave subtracted) show the generation of 3-D T-S waves, but not in the characteristic heart-shaped disturbance field predicted by 3-D asymptotic theory. Maximum disturbance amplitudes are found on the roughness centerline. However, some near-field characteristics predicted by numerical modeling are observed.

Prosthetic heart valves and the many great strides in valve design have been responsible for extending the life spans of many people with serious heart conditions. Even though the prosthetic valves are extremely reliable, they are eventually susceptible to long-term fatigue and structural failure effects expected from mechanical devices operating over long periods of time. The purpose of our work is to classify the condition of in vivo Bjork-Shiley Convexo-Concave (BSCC) heart valves by processing acoustic measurements of heart valve sounds. The structural failures of interest for Bscc valves is called single leg separation (SLS). SLS can occur if the outlet strut cracks and separates from the main structure of the valve. We measure acoustic opening and closing sounds (waveforms) using high sensitivity contact microphones on the patient`s thorax. For our analysis, we focus our processing and classification efforts on the opening sounds because they yield direct information about outlet strut condition with minimal distortion caused by energy radiated from the valve disc.

Imitative behaviors are widespread in humans, in particular whenever two persons communicate and interact. Several tokens of spoken languages (onomatopoeias, ideophones, and phonesthemes) also display different degrees of iconicity between the sound of a word and what it refers to. Thus, it probably comes at no surprise that human speakers use a lot of imitative vocalizations and gestures when they communicate about sounds, as sounds are notably difficult to describe. What is more surprising is that vocal imitations of non-vocal everyday sounds (e.g. the sound of a car passing by) are in practice very effective: listeners identify sounds better with vocal imitations than with verbal descriptions, despite the fact that vocal imitations are inaccurate reproductions of a sound created by a particular mechanical system (e.g. a car driving by) through a different system (the voice apparatus). The present study investigated the semantic representations evoked by vocal imitations of sounds by experimentally quantifying how well listeners could match sounds to category labels. The experiment used three different types of sounds: recordings of easily identifiable sounds (sounds of human actions and manufactured products), human vocal imitations, and computational “auditory sketches” (created by algorithmic computations). The results show that performance with the best vocal imitations was similar to the best auditory sketches for most categories of sounds, and even to the referent sounds themselves in some cases. More detailed analyses showed that the acoustic distance between a vocal imitation and a referent sound is not sufficient to account for such performance. Analyses suggested that instead of trying to reproduce the referent sound as accurately as vocally possible, vocal imitations focus on a few important features, which depend on each particular sound category. These results offer perspectives for understanding how human listeners store and access long

The extent to which an animal is affected by the pain or distress of a conspecific will depend on its capacity for empathy. Empathy most probably evolved to facilitate parental care, so the current study assessed whether birds responded to an aversive stimulus directed at their chicks. Domestic hens were exposed to two replicates of the following conditions in a counterbalanced order: control (C; hen and chicks undisturbed), air puff to chicks (APC; air puff directed at chicks at 30 s intervals), air puff to hen (APH; air puff directed at hen at 30 s intervals) and control with noise (CN; noise of air puff at 30 s intervals). During each test, the hens' behaviour and physiology were measured throughout a 10 min pre-treatment and a 10 min treatment period. Hens responded to APH and APC treatments with increased alertness, decreased preening behaviour and a reduction in eye temperature. No such changes occurred during any control period. Increased heart rate and maternal vocalization occurred exclusively during the APC treatment, even though chicks produced few distress vocalizations. The pronounced and specific reaction observed indicates that adult female birds possess at least one of the essential underpinning attributes of empathy. PMID:21389025

Heart failure is a complex and multisystem clinical syndrome that results from impaired ventricular contractility and/or relaxation. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and coronary artery disease are common antecedents to heart failure. The main pathogenic mechanisms involved in heart failure include sympathetic nervous and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activation, as well as inflammation. A detailed history and physical examination and additional diagnostic tests may be needed to diagnose heart failure. Most treatment strategies target neurohormonal systems. Nonpharmacologic interventions and effective engagement in self-care are also important in overall heart failure management. Therapeutic strategies are geared toward prolonging life and optimizing quality of life.

Noninvasive technique does not disturb field it measures. Sound field deflects laser beam proportionally to its amplitude. Knife edge intercepts undeflected beam, allowing only deflected beam to reach photodetector. Apparatus calibrated by comparing output of photodetector with that of microphone. Optical technique valuable where necessary to measure in remote, inaccessible, or hostile environment or to avoid perturbation of measured region.

During the period December 1976 through February 1977, three regular monthly ozone profiles were measured at Wallops Flight Center, two special soundings were taken at Antigua, West Indies, and at the Churchill Research Range, monthly activities were initiated to establish stratospheric ozone climatology. This report presents the data results and flight profiles for the period covered.

Describes a simple, direct method to demonstrate the effects of the boundary conditions on sound impulse reflections in pipes. A graphical display of the results can be made using a pipe, cork, small hammer, microphone, and fast recording electronics. Explains the principles involved. (LZ)

This working guide on the principles and techniques of controlling acoustical environment is discussed in the light of human, environmental and building needs. The nature of sound and its variables are defined. The acoustical environment and its many materials, spaces and functional requirements are described, with specific methods for planning,…

Photogates are probably the most commonly used electronic instruments to aid experiments in the field of mechanics. Although they are offered by many manufacturers, they can be too expensive to be widely used in all classrooms, in multiple experiments or even at home experimentation. Today all computers have a sound card--an interface for analogue…

Language and music literacy share a similar process of understanding that progresses from sensory experience to symbolic representation. The author identifies Bruner’s modes of understanding as they relate to using narrative in the music classroom to enhance music reading at iconic and symbolic levels. Two sound stories are included for…

Modern cognitive neuroscientific theories and empirical evidence suggest that brain structures involved in movement may be related to action-related semantic knowledge. To test this hypothesis, we examined the naming of environmental sounds in patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), two…

In two experiments, the majority of 21 newborn infants who were maintained in an alert state consistently turned their heads toward a continuous sound source presented 90 degrees from midline. For most infants, this orientation response was rather slow, taking median latencies of 2.5 seconds to begin and 5.5 seconds to end. (JMB)

Objective: Prenatal exposure to inappropriate levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) and maternal stress are putative mechanisms for the fetal programming of later health outcomes. The current investigation examined the influence of prenatal maternal cortisol and maternal psychosocial stress on infant physiological and behavioral responses to stress.…

We investigate the idea that the languages of the world have developed coherent sound systems in which having one sound increases or decreases the chances of having certain other sounds, depending on shared properties of those sounds. We investigate the geometries of sound systems that are defined by the inherent properties of sounds. We document three typological tendencies in sound system geometries: economy, a tendency for the differences between sounds in a system to be definable on a relatively small number of independent dimensions; local symmetry, a tendency for sound systems to have relatively large numbers of pairs of sounds that differ only on one dimension; and global symmetry, a tendency for sound systems to be relatively balanced. The finding of economy corroborates previous results; the two symmetry properties have not been previously documented. We also investigate the relation between the typology of inventory geometries and the typology of individual sounds, showing that the frequency distribution with which individual sounds occur across languages works in favor of both local and global symmetry.

Accurate measurement of sound speed is important to calibrate a sound velocity profiler which provides real-time sound velocity to the sonar equipment in oceanographic survey. The sound velocity profiler calculates the sound speed by measuring the time-of-flight of a 1 MHz single acoustic pulse to travel over about 300 mm path. A standard sound velocimeter instrument was invited to calibrate the sound velocity profiler in pure water at temperatures of 278,283, 288, 293, 298, 303 and 308K in a thermostatic vessel at one atmosphere. The sound velocity profiler was deployed in the thermostatic vessel alongside the standard sound velocimeter instrument and two platinum resistance thermometers (PRT) which were calibrated to 0.002k by comparison with a standard PRT. Time of flight circuit board was used to measure the time-of-flight to 22 picosecond precision. The sound speed which was measured by the sound velocity profiler was compared to the standard sound speed calculated by UNESCO to give the laboratory calibration coefficients and was demonstrated agreement with CTD-derived sound speed using Del Grosso's seawater equation after removing a bias.

We investigate the idea that the languages of the world have developed coherent sound systems in which having one sound increases or decreases the chances of having certain other sounds, depending on shared properties of those sounds. We investigate the geometries of sound systems that are defined by the inherent properties of sounds. We document three typological tendencies in sound system geometries: economy, a tendency for the differences between sounds in a system to be definable on a relatively small number of independent dimensions; local symmetry, a tendency for sound systems to have relatively large numbers of pairs of sounds that differ only on one dimension; and global symmetry, a tendency for sound systems to be relatively balanced. The finding of economy corroborates previous results; the two symmetry properties have not been previously documented. We also investigate the relation between the typology of inventory geometries and the typology of individual sounds, showing that the frequency distribution with which individual sounds occur across languages works in favor of both local and global symmetry. PMID:27462296

Although dramatic postnatal changes in maternal behavior have long been noted, we are only now beginning to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that support this transition. The present paper synthesizes growing insights from both animal and human research to provide an overview of the plasticity of the mother's brain, with a particular…

Intrauterine exposure to reduced nutrient availability can have major effects in determining susceptibility to chronic disease later in life. Martínez et al. (2014) demonstrate multigenerational effects of poor maternal nutrition and evidence of germline transmission through alterations in DNA methylation.

Antenatal closure of the ductus arteriosus is an uncommon event that has been considered as a risk factor for development of congestive heart failure and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. We report here on a case of antenatal ductus arteriosus closure due to niflumic acid maternal intoxication at 32 weeks of gestation. Fetal extraction was performed few days later because of echographic signs of congestive heart failure. The child survived after 3 days of severe persistent pulmonary hypertension. This case emphasizes the potential risk of niflumic acid during pregnancy and the need of antenatal echographic monitoring for optimal management.

Dr. Holtz and colleagues present a synthesis of evidence from published studies over the previous decade on the collective impact of HIV-targeted interventions on maternal mortality. Amongst an assortment of interventions [that include antiretroviral therapy (ART), micronutrients (multivitamins, vitamin A and selenium), and antibiotics], only ART reduced maternal mortality among HIV-infected pregnant and post-partum mothers. These findings have fundamental and global strategic implications. They are also timely since they provide the evidence that ART reduces HIV-related maternal mortality, and by further enhancing access to ART in HIV-challenged and poor regions of the world, significant improvement in maternal morbidity and mortality indices could be attained. The paper bears good tidings and sound scientific proof that the financial investment made globally by government and non-governmental organizations and agencies to reduce the global burden of HIV/AIDS primarily by making ART more accessible to regions of the world most affected by the epidemic is beginning to show beneficial effects not only in terms of numerical reductions in the rates of new cases of HIV/AIDS among women, but also in maternal mortality levels.

The ultimatum game (UG) is commonly used to study the tension between financial self-interest and social equity motives. Here, we investigated whether experimental exposure to interoceptive signals influences participants' behavior in the UG. Participants were presented with various bodily sounds--i.e., their own heart, another person's heart, or the sound of footsteps--while acting both in the role of responder and proposer. We found that listening to one's own heartsound, compared to the other bodily sounds: (1) increased subjective feelings of unfairness, but not rejection behavior, in response to unfair offers and (2) increased the unfair offers while playing in the proposer role. These findings suggest that heightened feedback of one's own visceral processes may increase a self-centered perspective and drive socioeconomic exchanges accordingly. In addition, this study introduces a valuable procedure to manipulate online the access to interoceptive signals and for exploring the interplay between viscero-sensory information and cognition.

The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the suitability of potential biomarkers for maternal ability in cattle, and in addition to test the hypothesis that dairy cows have a less pronounced motherliness than beef cows. Therefore, maternal behavior of 20 Simmental beef-type (S) and 20 German Black Pied (dairy-type) Cattle (BP) was assessed on the 2nd and again on the 3rd day of the calf's life. Measurements included the frequency of interactions between cow and calf, the cow's willingness to defend her calf, the overall maternal behavior, saliva cortisol, saliva oxytocin, heart rate, and thermal images of the eye (ET). Mixed model analysis revealed that BP had significantly (P<0.05) higher oxytocin (88.6±9.2 vs. 62.8±9.2 pg/ml saliva) and cortisol (1.3±0.1 vs. 1.0±0.1 ng/ml saliva) levels, but lower heart rates (80.0±2.0 vs. 95.8±2.0bpm) than S cows. Simmental (beef) cows showed more defensive behavior (3.5±0.2 vs. 2.7±0.2 scores), but fewer total interactions between cow and calf (8.1±1.4 vs. 13.8±1.4), compared to BP (dairy). However, with the exception of heart rate and overall maternal behavior, breed differences tended to diminish from the 2nd to the 3rd day of the calf's life. Repeatabilities ranged from 9±23% (ET) to 77±7% (maternal behavior measured on a visual analogue scale), and correlations between physiological parameters and behavior differed between breeds and were generally at a low level. In conclusion, beef cows do not seem to be per se more maternal compared to dairy cows, and the assessed parameters are of limited use as biomarkers for maternal behavior.

Information on Western and Central Long Island Sound Dredged Material Disposal Sites including the Dredged Material Management Plan and Regional Dredging Team. Information regarding the Eastern Long Island Sound Selected Site including public meetings.

Little is known about the relationship between maternal behavior and the stability of premature infants' physiologic responses during feeding. In a secondary data analysis, we examined relationships between quality of maternal behavior and cardiorespiratory physiology during feeding in 61 premature and 53 term infants at four times over the first year of life. Measures included heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), and oxygen saturation; Child Feeding Skills Checklist; and Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment. Birthweight, gestational age, and neurodevelopmental risk were covariates. Quality of maternal behavior did not predict infants' physiologic response to feeding. However, birthweight was related to infant feeding physiology among all infants over the first year of life. Stress during fetal life, which may lead to impaired intrauterine growth and low birthweight, may have longitudinal effects on cardiorespiratory functioning of premature infants. Research is needed to further investigate the biological pathways by which maternal-infant interaction supports behavioral and physiologic feeding outcomes of premature infants.

1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Dispersion of Sound in Marine Sediments N. Ross...our understanding of the interaction of sound with the ocean bottom is the frequency dependence of sound speed and attenuation in marine sediments...The long term goals of this research project are related to the investigation of dispersion of sound speed and attenuation at low frequencies (< 2

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and maternal health are closely linked. NCDs such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension have a significant adverse impact on maternal health and pregnancy outcomes, and through the mechanism of intrauterine programming maternal health impacts the burden of NCDs in future generations. The cycle of vulnerability to NCDs is repeated with increasing risk accumulation in subsequent generations. This article discusses the impact, interlinkages and advocates for integration of services for maternal and child health, NCD care and prevention and health promotion to sustainably improve maternal health as well address the rising burden of NCDs.

Little is known about the effect on the human foetus of long-term and acute exposure to caffeine. We studied the organisation of foetal sleep-wake states in 13 healthy near-term foetuses over a wide range of maternal plasma caffeine concentrations (0-13 μg/mL) reflecting normal lifestyle conditions (day 0) and again following intake of two cups of regular coffee (~300 mg of caffeine) intermitted by 50 h of abstinence (day 2; acute effects). On either day, 2 h simultaneous recordings were made of foetal heart rate, general-, eye-, and breathing-movements. The recordings were analysed for the presence of each of four foetal behavioural states: quiet- and active-sleep, quiet- and active-wakefulness. There was a linear relationship between maternal caffeine content and the incidence of foetal general movements during active sleep on day 0 (R = 0.74; P < 0.02). After coffee loading on day 2, foetuses of non- or low-caffeine consumers showed increases in active wakefulness (P < 0.001), general movements (P < 0.05) and heart rate variation (P < 0.01) but lower basal heart rate (P < 0.01) compared with their day 0 values. The changes in foetal heart rate (variation) and behaviour occurred between 90 and 180 min post-consumption. In contrast, foetuses of habitual caffeine consumers remained unaffected suggestive of foetal tolerance to caffeine. The results indicate differential performance between foetuses regularly exposed to caffeine and those caffeine-naive, both under normal maternal lifestyle conditions and in response to maternal coffee ingestion.

It is widely accepted that the likelihood of offspring developing heart disease, stroke, or diabetes in later life, is influenced by the their in utero environment and maternal nutrition. There is increasing epidemiological evidence that osteoporosis in the offspring may also be influenced by the mother's nutrition during pregnancy. This review provides evidence from a range of animal models that supports the epidemiological data; suggesting that lifelong bone development and growth in offspring is determined during gestation.

Stimulated by the studies done by Paul Deveraux and Robert Jahn, research has been conducted on the sound properties of two megalithic chambers is Ireland: Dowth South and Fourknocks I. As reference measurements two normal rooms (bed- and bathroom) have been studied. The following aspects will be covered in the presentation: some theoretical background on acoustical modes (within a passage, a chamber, and a combination of them: Helmholtz resonator); tips for doing sound experiments inside megalithic chambers (like: equipment, measurement software, power provisioning and calibrating); frequency response measurements (between 20 and 200 Hz) for the surveyed chambers/rooms; comparison of the results with other researchers' results; background on the pitch of the human (male, female, and child) voices in neolithic times and recommendations for future research. The presentation also provides insight in the aeralization (simulation) of sound in a megalithic chamber, covering: software that can do these simulations; issues in finding the basic information, e.g., acoustic absorption coefficients and provide examples of the results. I would like to thank all the people who have provided constructive feedback on my work (http://www.iol.ie/approxgeniet/eng/megasound.htm).

Echolocating bats emit ultrasonic vocalizations and listen to echoes reflected back from objects in the path of the sound beam to build a spatial representation of their surroundings. Important to understanding the representation of space through echolocation are detailed studies of the cues used for localization, the sonar emission patterns and how this information is assembled. This thesis includes three studies, one on the directional properties of the sonar receiver, one on the directional properties of the sonar transmitter, and a model that demonstrates the role of action in building a representation of auditory space. The general importance of this work to a broader understanding of spatial localization is discussed. Investigations of the directional properties of the sonar receiver reveal that interaural level difference and monaural spectral notch cues are both dependent on sound source azimuth and elevation. This redundancy allows flexibility that an echolocating bat may need when coping with complex computational demands for sound localization. Using a novel method to measure bat sonar emission patterns from freely behaving bats, I show that the sonar beam shape varies between vocalizations. Consequently, the auditory system of a bat may need to adapt its computations to accurately localize objects using changing acoustic inputs. Extra-auditory signals that carry information about pinna position and beam shape are required for auditory localization of sound sources. The auditory system must learn associations between extra-auditory signals and acoustic spatial cues. Furthermore, the auditory system must adapt to changes in acoustic input that occur with changes in pinna position and vocalization parameters. These demands on the nervous system suggest that sound localization is achieved through the interaction of behavioral control and acoustic inputs. A sensorimotor model demonstrates how an organism can learn space through auditory-motor contingencies

Zfp57 is a maternal–zygotic effect gene that maintains genomic imprinting. Here we report that Zfp57 mutants exhibited a variety of cardiac defects including atrial septal defect (ASD), ventricular septal defect (VSD), thin myocardium, and reduced trabeculation. Zfp57 maternal-zygotic mutant embryos displayed more severe phenotypes with higher penetrance than the zygotic ones. Cardiac progenitor cells exhibited proliferation and differentiation defects in Zfp57 mutants. ZFP57 is a master regulator of genomic imprinting, so the DNA methylation imprint was lost in embryonic heart without ZFP57. Interestingly, the presence of imprinted DLK1, a target of ZFP57, correlated with NOTCH1 activation in cardiac cells. These results suggest that ZFP57 may modulate NOTCH signaling during cardiac development. Indeed, loss of ZFP57 caused loss of NOTCH1 activation in embryonic heart with more severe loss observed in the maternal-zygotic mutant. Maternal and zygotic functions of Zfp57 appear to play redundant roles in NOTCH1 activation and cardiomyocyte differentiation. This serves as an example of a maternal effect that can influence mammalian organ development. It also links genomic imprinting to NOTCH signaling and particular developmental functions. PMID:25848000

This experiment examined the accuracy with which newborn infants orient their heads toward a sound positioned off midline within hemifields. The study also evaluated newborns' ability to update the angle of their head turn to match a change in localization of an ongoing sound. Alert newborns were held in a supine position and presented a sound at…

The influence of bubbles on sound has long attracted the attention of physicists. In his 1920 book Sir William Bragg described sound absorption caused by foam in a glass of beer tapped by a spoon. Frank S. Crawford described and analyzed the change in the pitch of sound in a similar experiment and named the phenomenon the "hot chocolate effect."…

Condensation of atoms from the vapor into a third sound resonance is expected to be capable of acoustic amplification. This results from normal to superfluid conversion that coherently accommodates atoms into the third sound velocity field. Consideration of third sound in light of the equilibrium detailed balance between vapor particles and the superfluid film provides further evidence that acoustic amplification is attainable.

An appoach to the use of sound in computer interfaces, proposed in this article, emphasizes the role of sound in conveying information about the world to the listener. This approach argues that auditory icons, i.e., caricatures of naturally occurring sounds, provide a natural way to represent dimensional data as well as conceptual objects in a…

In this article we report on listener categorization of meaningful environmental sounds. A starting point for this study was the phenomenological taxonomy proposed by Gaver (1993b). In the first experimental study, 15 participants classified 60 environmental sounds and indicated the properties shared by the sounds in each class. In a second…

Exploration of making and changing sounds is part of the first-grade performance expectation 1-PS4-1, "Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate" (NGSS Lead States 2013, p. 10; see Internet Resource). Early learning experiences build toward…

The existence of sound-symbolism (or a non-arbitrary link between form and meaning) is well-attested. However, sound-symbolism has mostly been investigated with nonwords in forced choice tasks, neither of which are representative of natural language. This study uses ideophones, which are naturally occurring sound-symbolic words that depict sensory…